Violist and Violinist Clark Spencer is an active solo, chamber, and orchestral performer living in Wilmington, NC. He is currently assistant principal viola of the Oregon Mozart Players and a founding member of the Blue Box Ensemble. Clark has performed with the Fayetteville Symphony (NC), Long Bay Symphony Orchestra (SC), Eugene Symphony, Eugene Opera, the Corvallis Symphony, Newport Symphony, and the Oregon Bach Festival. He has had the privilege of performing under the batons of Andrew Linton, Marin Alsop, Jeffrey Kahane, Helmut Rilling, and Gunther Schuller.

Originally from Lancaster, PA, Clark earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in performance from Boston University, where he studied viola with Michelle LaCourse and violin with Peter Zazofsky. He recently completed his Doctorate in Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oregon where he studied with Dr. Leslie Straka. His doctoral research on the Sonata in G by Paul Ben-Haim culminated in a new edition for solo viola. Clark has also studied with Martha Strongin Katz and Jeffrey Irvine. He has performed in masterclasses with Kim Kashkashian, Arnold Steinhardt, Roger Tapping, Pamela Frank, the Ying String Quartet, the American String Quartet, the Orion String Quartet, and the Muir String Quartet.

Clark is an experienced violin and viola teacher. He completed his long term Suzuki training with Karin Hallberg and Louise Scott during his studies at the University of Oregon. In addition to his own studio, Clark has taught for the University of Oregon’s Community Music Institute, where he taught group classes, coached chamber music and conducted a middle school string orchestra. He also coached violin and viola sections of the South Salem High School Chamber Orchestra and the Salem Youth Orchestra. During the summers of 2009 and 2010, Clark served on the faculty at the Vermont Youth Orchestra’s Summer Program, Reveille!