Dr. Gaby Valladares

Dr. Gaby Valladares is a native of Santa Clarita, California. After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the University of California, Santa Barbara, she made her way to Ohio, where she has established herself as a clarinetist and teacher around the city of Columbus. She has performed with local symphonies, such as the Westerville Symphony, and has performed with symphonies in California, including the Symphony of the Canyons. She is also part of the Held-Together Wind Quintet, which was awarded the Barbara and Sheldon Pinchuk Arts-Community Outreach Grant. This quintet also had the honor of opening for the Imani Wind Quintet at the Southern Theatre in March 2022. She also served as the President of the ClariNetwork Association, whose efforts have funded masterclasses featuring world-renowned performers and teachers. With Dr. Sarah Jaegers, she is a member of the DesertLake duo, who have performed at ICA’s 2020 Clarinetfest.

While doing her DMA degree at Ohio State, she served as the head Graduate Teaching Associate for the History of Rock ‘n’ Roll course. During her time in her performance program, she advocated for the playing of music of a wide range of performers and is comfortable playing music ranging from Johannes Brahms to Vulfpeck. She continues diving into and teaching her students about classical and popular music, including jazz and rock ‘n’ roll.

Gaby has taught a wide range of students and has experience teaching elementary, middle, high school, and university level students. She served as a graduate associate in OSU’s clarinet studio and has experience teaching a wide range of instruments, from clarinet to piano and saxophone.

During her free time, Gaby enjoys finding and listening to records, buying books she won’t have time to read, and transcribing famous rock solos to clarinet (Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” is her most recent project).

Dr. Valladares holds a DMA and an MM degree from the Ohio State University and she received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her primary teachers include Dr. Caroline Hartig and Paul Bambach.