Woodwinds Faculty

Dr. Binder attended North Carolina School for the Arts; the Cincinnati Conservatory; Virginia Commonwealth; and Florida State University, where she earned her D.M. She has played with the Virginia Symphony, Virginia Opera and Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared as a recitalist and clinician throughout the United States. She is a student of Louis Moyse, and recently finished writing his biography. Flute

Research/Creative Activity: Shelly Binder

Gary Sperl is an Associate Professor of Clarinet in The University of Tennessee School of Music and also the Principal Clarinetist with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Sperl received a Master of Music in Woodwinds Degree from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Music Education from The University of Wisconsin - River Falls. His primary teachers have been Robert Samarotto, Russel Dagon, and Bernard Portnoy.

Mr. Sperl has been active in summer music festivals for the past 30 years. He is currently the clarinetist in the Assisi (Italy) Performing Arts Festival and is also the Principal Clarinetist in the Bear Valley Music Festival, a position he has held since 1986. From 1980 to 1997 he was a clarinetist and bass clarinetist with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in both Charleston, South Carolina and Spoleto, Italy. From 1998 to 2002, he served as the Orchestra Manager for the Spoleto Festival and from 2002 until 2004 he was the Principal Clarinetist with the Missouri Chamber Orchestra. In addition to his summer activities, he has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony, the Savannah and Charleston Symphony Orchestras.

Mr. Sperl has performed regularly with the Wild Basin Winds, a professional chamber music ensemble based in Austin, Texas. With this ensemble, he has performed in the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He has recorded a Christmas CD with the Wild Basin Winds called “A Wild Basin Christmas”.

Research/Creative Activity: Gary Sperl

He was principal bassoonist with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for 36 years, from 1972 until 2008. Chamber music associations have been with Windstrum, a bassoon/guitar duo; Lyric Chamberwinds, a clarinet, bassoon, and piano trio that performed at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Manchester, England as well as Southeastern United States; Mozart on a Summers Eve, an wind octet in Spokane, Washington; and the Tennessee Bassoon Quartet, which performed on the Grammy Award winning PDQ Bach CD, An Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion. McClelland is also the bassoon teacher at the Tennessee Governors School For The Arts.  Bassoon, Music Theory.

Research/Creative Activity: Keith McClelland

She received the B.M. degree from the University of Tennessee and the M.M. from Yale University. Her teachers include Robert Bloom and John Mack. She is principal oboist with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Knoxville Symphony Woodwind Quintet. She has held faculty positions at Radford College and East Tennessee State University, Tennessee Governors School for the Arts, and has performed with Spoleto Festival Orchestra. She has recorded for Benson Music Group, John Purifoy Productions, and is featured on Kenneth Jacob's Sandcastles CD.

MP3 Music Samples:

• Let's Make Things Better by Astrid.

He holds a BM degree from the University of Tennessee, and a Master of Music Degree in Saxophone Performance from Indiana University. From 1991-1993, he was an Associate Instructor in the Department of Bands at Indiana University, while working on a Doctoral Degree in Saxophone Performance.

He currently conducts the Band and Choral Ensembles at Knoxville Catholic High School, a position he  has held since 2001. Prior to his work in the Catholic Schools, Mr. Romines served as Associate Director of Bands and Saxophone Professor at the University of Tennessee School of Music.

He has also taught Saxophone at the University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus, and been Associate Instructor of Saxophone at Indiana University. He has studied Saxophone with Doug Masek, Gary Sperl, Eugene Rousseau, Larry Teal, Iwan Roth, and  attended the Master Classes of Jean-Yves Fourmeau, and Otis Murphy.