Kimberly Cole Luevano

Joining the Sarasota Music Festival faculty in 2023

Kimberly Cole Luevano fulfills multiple callings in life: clarinet performer, chamber music collaborator, teacher/educator/advisor, university administrator, wife, mom, and daughter, amongst many other roles. With reviews such as “a most skillful artist” (Fanfare Magazine), “breathtaking…” (The Clarinet), “virtuosic tone and technique” (Tampa Bay Times), “exceptionally sensitive and introspective rendition” (The Clarinet), she has continually established herself as a formidable soloist and chamber musician. Currently Professor of Clarinet and Chair of the Division of Instrumental Studies in the College of Music at the University of North Texas, Luevano relishes her work with UNT’s diverse, talented students and colleagues. Luevano joined the UNT faculty in 2011, taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp for nine years, and has served the International Clarinet Association as Pedagogy Chair and coordinator of their High School Competition. She has presented acclaimed solo and chamber performances, adjudicated, taught at festivals, and presented masterclasses on four continents . Former students have been prize winners in international competitions and occupy performing and teaching positions throughout North America. With pianist Midori Koga and soprano Lindsay Kesselman, she forms the trio, Haven; she is also a founding member of the acclaimed clarinet, violin, and piano trio, TrioPolis.

Haven received 2021 commissioning grants from both the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Fund and the Barlow Foundation to partner with composers Ivette Herryman-Rodriguez and David Biedenbender, respectively, in the creation of new works for the trio. Haven also released their CD, Twinge, in 2019. Luevano recorded William Bolcom’s Clarinet Concerto in 2022 for release on the GIA label with Eugene Corporon and the North Texas Wind Symphony. GIA also released their recording of Michael Daugherty’s Brooklyn Bridge in 2016. Luevano’s recordings on the Fleur de Son label, Bright Angel (2013) and Atonement (2015), received critical acclaim and were considered in the Grammy nomination process. Her world premiere recordings with TrioPolis, TrioPolis One, was released on the Fleur de Son label in 2017. Numerous chamber recordings are also available on the Centaur and Albany labels.

Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Luevano studied in Paris, France as a U.S. Government Fulbright Scholar and has been a prizewinner in numerous competitions. She earned degrees at Michigan State University and the University of North Texas and is immensely grateful to her mentors. Prior to her appointment at the University of North Texas, she was Professor of Clarinet at Eastern Michigan University for fifteen years.

Luevano plays and endorses Selmer Paris instruments and is a D’Addario and Company Performing Artist. She resides in Corinth, Texas with her husband and savors time spent with her two college-aged sons and her spirited border collie.