Biography

Dr. Cassandra O'Brien has a deep passion for making beautiful music, and that passion is evident in her career as a clarinetist and teacher. Most of her work is focused in the Metro-Detroit area. She performs regularly with the Rochester and Macomb Symphony Orchestras. In addition to her professorship at SVSU, Dr. O'Brien teaches with Expressions Music Academy, and Oakland Homeschool Music. Prior to earning her doctorate, Cassandra taught at Michigan State University and the University of Akron as a graduate teaching assistant.

Dr. O'Brien has had the privilege of performing with many wonderful and talented musicians. She has had a successful performance career, frequently performing as a soloist and in chamber ensembles, concert bands, and orchestras in the Midwest and beyond. She performed in Madrid, Spain during ClarinetFest 2015. Additionally, she can be heard on the CDs, “In this Broad Earth: Music of Steven Bryant,” and “Antique Violences: Music of John Mackey,” playing principal clarinet on the entirety of the latter CD. Dr. O'Brien also performed with MSU music faculty in DvoÅ™ák's Serenade for Winds, a West Circle Series event. Most recently, Dr. O'Brien performed as an orchestra member with Evanescence and Lindsey Stirling at DTE.

Dr. O'Brien earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Michigan State University in 2017, where she studied with Dr. Guy Yehuda. She earned her M.M. in Clarinet Performance from the University Of Akron where she studied with Dr. Kristina Belisle-Jones and her B.M. in Clarinet Performance from Grand Valley State University, where she studied with Dr. Arthur Campbell and Scott Anderson.