Jay Shankar

About Jay

Jay Shankar is an emerging clarinetist in the classical music world, recently appointed as the Assistant Principal/Second/and Eb Clarinet with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He was named the winner of the prestigious International Vandoren Competition and a semifinalist at the International Crusell Competition in Finland, the only American clarinetist to be invited. Shankar is also an avid chamber musician, recently being invited to La Jolla Music society and the Colburn Chamber Music Society where he collaborated with musicians such as Anthony McGill, Paul Huang, Geoff Nuttall, Inon Barnatan, and Pedja Mužijević. In addition, he is a frequent guest of world-class orchestras such as The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as the Principal Clarinetist in orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra of Carnegie Hall in 2016, The Colburn Orchestra, and Marin Alsop’s Conductors Orchestra in Baltimore. He has participated in orchestra festivals such as the Music Academy of the West, the Immanuel and Olshan Texas Music Festival—where he won a prize in the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition—and as the Principal Clarinet of the 2023 Britt Festival Orchestra. Shankar received his master's degree at the Colburn Conservatory of Music with renowned pedagogue Yehuda Gilad and bachelor's degree from The Peabody Conservatory at The Johns Hopkins University with Eugene Mondie.