Amy Simon

MMus (Clarinet)

PhD (Ethnomusicology)

Dr. Amy Simon is a clarinetist, woodwind specialist and music scholar. She is currently Instructor of Clarinet and Woodwind Techniques at the University of Prince Edward Island. She holds a Masters degree in Music (Clarinet Performance) from the University of Victoria, and a PhD in Music (Ethnomusicology) from York University in Toronto, which she completed with the support of the prestigious Provost Dissertation Scholarship.

As a clarinetist, Amy has performed solo recitals on the east and west coasts of Canada and has played in pit orchestras for various musical productions. In the summers of 2022 and 2024, she joined the Charlottetown Festival to perform in Anne of Green Gables-The Musical. She toured for several years throughout Europe and North America as principal clarinetist in a classical dance show, performing about 100 shows a year. Amy has performed in master classes for Larry Combs, former principal clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Eric Mandat, composer and specialist in extended techniques on clarinet; and Peter Veale, oboist and new music specialist. She has also studied with studio musician and pedagogue Patricia Kostek, renowned saxophonist and composer David Mott, and clarinetists Patti Goodwin of Taplin-Weir and Karem J Simon.

Currently, Amy plays clarinet and bass clarinet with the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra and Luminos Chamber Orchestra. She has taught Music & Culture at the University of Prince Edward Island, and published academic articles on Japanese wind music and clarinet repertoire in the journals Asian Music, Analytical Approaches to World Music, and The Clarinet – Online. Her research interests include performance techniques on woodwind instruments, East Asian wind performance techniques, the Japanese shakuhachi flute and gagaku orchestra, and spectral analysis. Other projects include working with Dr. Annabel Cohen as Research Associate in the Music Cognition laboratory at UPEI and acting as producer on the album Solitary Clarinet by Karem J. Simon.

Amy teaches private lessons in clarinet, flute, saxophone, oboe, bassoon and recorder, as well as music theory, history and analysis. Her students have performed at the National Music Festival and have won gold medals for their Royal Conservatory of Music exams, monetary awards at the provincial music festival and scholarships to study music at university. She was honoured to be selected as the 2024 Teacher of Distinction for the Atlantic Region by the Royal Conservatory of Music and is a member of the PEI Registered Music teachers’ Association. She has joined the PEI Symphony Orchestra Academy as a chambre music Teaching Artist for the 2025-26 season.