Originally from northern Wisconsin, Jennifer currently lives in Minneapolis with her husband. She plays the clarinet, teaches music, and makes art whenever she can.
Jennifer earned her doctorate of musical arts in clarinet performance from the University of Minnesota where she was a Berneking Fellow and a teaching assistant in both conducting and clarinet. She is an active member of the International Clarinet Association and performed at the ICA Southeastern Festival at the University of Alabama Birmingham in 2015. Her primary teachers include Alexander Fiterstein, Karrin Meffert-Nelson, and Joann Polley. She received her undergraduate degree from St. Olaf College in Instrumental Music Education.
One of her passions includes supporting and performing new music. Jennifer commissioned and premiered Jason Cress’ Apodis for two clarinets, a project that was possible through the Community Engagement Grant from the University of Minnesota School of Music. In 2012, she premiered the piece jewface for voice and clarinet by Joey Crane at Dreamland Center for the Arts in Saint Paul. Her work can be found on the recording 45 Minutes for 128 Musicians by Andrew Bergmann and on the CD the Music of Gregory Mertl. In conjunction with MPR (Minnesota Public Radio,) she was an artist mentor for young composers, performing their new solo and chamber works through the Minnesota Varsity Program at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
As an educator, Jennifer teaches band and world drumming at Orono High School and enjoys teaching clarinet master classes at universities throughout the country.