Shauna Barker started playing the clarinet at the age of 11 and immediately fell in love with the instrument. As a youth, she studied with Stephen Robb, played in the Delta Youth Orchestra, the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from McGill University with Robert Crowley, and a Masters degree from DePaul University in Chicago with Larry Combs.
For over 12 years, Ms. Barker has served as Principal Clarinet in the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and as regular extra musician with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. She performs with many chamber ensembles, namely the Ayorama Quintet, the Bel Canto Quintet (both ensembles also belonging to the National Arts Centre Orchestra’s Music in the Schools program), and the Harmonious Pigs Trio.
Shauna has been on faculty at the University of Ottawa as Clarinet Professor since 2008, and more recently as Coordinator of the Winds Sector in 2017. A sought after educator, Ms. Barker is also the Senior Winds Coach and Conductor at the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy, and is very excited to join the Carleton University’s Music Program as Performance Instructor and clarinetist in the Carleton-OSO ensemble in residence. Shauna also holds a private clarinet studio.
Ms. Barker has performed with several ensembles such as the Thirteen Strings, Les Violons Du Roy, L’Ensemble Prisme, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Gatineau, and has appeared as soloist with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the Deep River Symphony Orchestra, the Pembroke Orchestra and the Parkdale Orchestra. She can be heard on recordings with NACO, Les Violons du Roy, L’Orchestre de la Francophonie and Maghan McPhee’s solo album, Portrait.