Amanda McCandless is Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the University of Northern Iowa.  She teaches applied clarinet and related courses and is a member of the Northwind Quintet.

McCandless has performed recitals throughout the U.S. and abroad.  She has been a guest artist at many national and regional clarinet events, including the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, Michigan State University’s Clarinet Spectacular and the Eastern Kentucky University Clarinet Festival.  She was a guest artist and clinician at the Bolivian National Conservatory of Music in La Paz, Bolivia and at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez.

McCandless was a finalist in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and was twice a finalist in the International Clarinet Association’s Young Artist Competition.  She was a winner of the 2004 Michigan State University Concerto Competition, performing Joan Tower’s Clarinet Concerto.  She has performed in the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the Midland Symphony Orchestra and the Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra, and most recently performed as principal clarinet in the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra and the Tulsa Ballet Orchestra.

McCandless’s performing and academic interests largely lie in the interpretation and advocacy of contemporary music.  She has had the privilege of working with composers such as Joan Tower, Shulamit Ran, William O. Smith, Dana Wilson, Peter Sculthorpe and Scott McAllister on the interpretation of their clarinet and chamber works.  In 2007, she published an interview with composer Scott McAllister in The Clarinet.

McCandless holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and Master of Music degree from Michigan State University, where she was a student of Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr.   She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Eastern Kentucky University, where she was a student of Connie Rhoades.  She has also studied with Theodore Oien, Charles Neidich, Colin Lawson and Peter Jenkin.  McCandless has previously held teaching positions at Northeastern (OK) State University, Indiana University South Bend, Bemidji (MN) State University and Michigan State University’s Community Music School.