Angela Shankar

Biography

The daughter of two musicians from her native Cleveland, Ohio, Angela is a performer and educator in New York City.

Active in the musical theater world, you can find Angela currently subbing in the Broadway pit orchestra Wicked. She’s previously played in the Broadway pit orchestras of The Music Man, Camelot, Off-Broadway with Merrily We Roll Along and Harmony, and with the National Touring Company of Les Miserables. For the past two holiday seasons, she was a chair holder in the Radio City Music Hall orchestra for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular show.

In the Fall of 2022, Angela premiered a new concerto, written for her, by composer Michael Boyman, with The Chelsea Symphony. In addition to performing regularly with TCS, Angela is a member of the reed trio, Reeds Amis. The International Double Reed Society invited Reeds Amis to present and perform the unpublished works of Fernande Decruck at the IDRS Conference in Tokyo. They recently released their first CD; Reeds Amis, The Reed Trios of Fernande Decruck and it can be streamed on YouTube Music, Apple Music, and Spotify.

You can see and hear Angela on the Golden Globe winning television series Mozart in the Jungle, including a solo passage from Messiaen's Abîme des oiseaux from the Quartet for the End of Time in Episode 7 of Season 3, which was filmed on Rikers Island. A deeply moving experience, she has since worked behind the scenes to establish a chamber music program at Rikers with The Chelsea Symphony and with the support of the NYC Department of Corrections.

A passionate music education advocate and teacher, Angela has extensive experience teaching both private and group clarinet lessons. She maintains an active clarinet studio with students of all ages as a member of In The Pocket NYC. ITPNYC is a collective of teaching musicians who have come together to help invigorate New York City’s Arts Education Community with benefit events, innovative performances, and exceptional music instruction.

Angela received a B.A. in Clarinet Performance and Music Education from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.A. in Clarinet Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she received the Performer’s Certificate, the highest prize in performance. While at Eastman, Angela also won both the Jack L. Frank Award for Excellence in Community Teaching and the Teaching Assistant Prize for her work as an educator, additionally earning an Arts Leadership Certificate.

She has enjoyed playing with the the Billboard Music Award winning rock band AJR, the American Symphony Orchestra, West Point Band, Garden State Philharmonic, Binghamton Philharmonic, Mobile Symphony Orchestra, Ohio Light Opera Company, International Opera Theatre Company of Italy, American Wind Symphony Orchestra, Point Chamber Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's Chamber Ensemble. She has performed in such venues as La Fenice in Venice, the United Nations, the Library of Congress, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall. If you look closely, you can see her in the orchestra of the movie Bel Canto, starring Julianne Moore.

When Angela isn’t teaching or performing, she’s likely busy chasing after her three boys!