Blake Clawson

Blake Clawson is a composer, performer, conductor, and educator from the Pacific Northwest. His music weaves contemporary classical, jazz, and folk influences into colorful, expressive pieces that captivate listeners. He draws inspiration from poetry and nature, and while choral works on the pensive and Arcadian poems of Sara Teasdale are central to his output, he also writes chamber works that range from scintillating and groovy to introspective and serene.

Blake has written for and collaborated with a wide variety of ensembles, including the effervescent ~Nois saxophone quartet, who recently premiered his work Boomerang. Blake’s choral work Fantasy Arabesque was selected as the winner of the 2019 Opus 7 Robert Scandrett Memorial Composition Award and was performed in Seattle by Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, directed by Loren Pontén. His orchestral rhapsody Matara was selected as the winner of the 2020 Whitworth University Concerto Competition and was performed by the Whitworth Orchestra under the direction of Philip Baldwin.

Blake has studied with Carter Pann and Brent Edstrom and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Music Composition at the University of Colorado Boulder. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition from Whitworth University and has studied at the University of Auckland.