McLaren, Hseih to present clarinet, piano recital Oct. 24

NATCHITOCHES -Northwestern State University faculty Dr. Malena McLaren and Dr. Chialing Hsieh will present a recital on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. A livestream will be available at capa.nsula.edu/livestream.

The concert will feature works by Brahms, Harberg, Horick and Velazquez.

McLaren is the professor of clarinet at Northwestern State. She earned a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master's degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of New Mexico, and a Doctor of Music Arts degree from the University of North Texas. Her teachers include Keith Lemmons and Dr. James Gillespie. McLaren has performed chamber and solo repertoire throughout the United State, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, England, Spain and Belgium. She is a core member of the Rapides Symphony Orchestra.

McLaren's scholarly works include two articles in The Clarinet. She has performed in solo recitals at the International ClarinetFest® conferences. In 2011 she received the Magale Endowed Professorship to perform and conduct archival research in Madrid, Spain. She served as coordinator of the ICA Research Presentation Competition from 2014-2016 and currently serves as the Louisiana ICA State Chair. McLaren was invited to perform a lecture recital at the 2015 ClarinetFest® in Madrid, Spain, and perform at the 2018 ICA ClarinetFest® in Belgium. She gave a lecture presentation at the 2021 ICA ClarinetFest® and presented at the 2022 Clareidoscope Virtual Festival.

An avid performer of contemporary music, Hsieh is devoted to promoting new piano solo and chamber works. Hsieh has been a featured pianist on seven CDs for the Centaur, Innova, Enharmonic and Ballpark record labels. She joined the faculty of Northwestern State in 2016 as an assistant professor of collaborative piano. In the summer, she is the piano instructor at the Lutheran Summer Music Festival and Academy and the Sounds of Summer Institute. Hsieh earned her bachelor's degree from the National Taipei University of the Arts, and M.M. and D.M.A. in piano performance at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.