About the Artists

Dr. Maxine Ramey combines an international reputation as a clarinet recitalist with a distinguished teaching career. Ms. Ramey joined the faculty of the University of Montana in 1992 and balances an active performance schedule with her dedication to teaching. She's received three awards for Meritorious Teaching & Creative Activity from the University of Montana, and has been a featured performing artist at Montana Music Teacher Annual Conferences and the Washington State Music Teacher Annual Conference in 2005. Before coming to the U of M, she was professor of clarinet at Eastern New Mexico University and held teaching fellowships at Michigan State University and Arizona State University. Her students have gone on to be performers, professors, music arrangers and publishers, arts administrators and all manner of musical entrepreneurs. In May of 2008, Maxine Ramey received the UM School of Fine Arts Award as a Distinguished Professor. In addition to teaching clarinet and coaching chamber music, she is clarinetist with resident faculty ensembles such as the Montana Woodwind Trio and the Sapphire Trio. The Sapphire Trio has toured in Japan, Germany and Austria. In May of 2006, the US Embassy sponsored the trio in a tour of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. More information about the Sapphire Trio can be found at www.thesapphiretrio.com . In 2008, The Sapphire Trio toured the U.S. and Ireland presenting concerts and lectures. Maxine Ramey has performed as principal clarinet and as a concerto artist with orchestras in Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas and Michigan. Washington Post reviews call her performances "Refreshing, fluid and idiomatic". The Albuquerque Journal states “…she demonstrates extraordinary performing skills” In 2005 she was also a featured performer at the MTNA National Conference in Seattle and the Clarinetfest2005 in Tokyo, Japan, the Clarinetfest2006 in Atlanta, the Clarinetfest2007 in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and the 2006 American String Teacher Assoc. Conference in Kansas City. Maxine Ramey has been a featured guest artist at the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, the Alabama Clarinet Festival, at International Double Reed Society conferences in the US and Germany, Northern Plains Clarinet Symposia, the Michigan Contemporary Clarinet Festival at Michigan State University and the Clarinet Celebration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was a featured artist at the Louisiana Clarinet Festival and the Eastern Kentucky University Clarinet Festival. The Montana Woodwind Trio presented a recital at the National Flute Association conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Maxine Ramey was a featured recitalist at the Clarinetfest 2003 International Clarinet Association conference in Salt Lake City Utah, where she premiered Robert Baksa’s Sonata for Clarinet. She recently was a featured artist the Clarinet Day at UNLV. Maxine Ramey regularly hosts and performs at the Montana/Idaho Clarinet Festival. Reports and reviews of this festival appear each year in the THE CLARINET. Ms. Ramey is an advocate of new music and regularly programs the music of the late 20th century and 21st century on her recitals. As Solo/Principal Clarinet with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, she premiered new works by Jean Francaix, Jacques Casterede and Ivan Tcherepnine during the re-lighting ceremonies at the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. U of M's Sapphire Trio champions the newly commissioned works by the renowned Verdehr Trio. Ms. Ramey collaborated with Los Angeles Times Writer Mary Platt in writing the cover story celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Verdehr Trio in the 25th Anniversary Issues of THE CLARINET chronicling the life and work of the legendary Elsa and Walter Verdehr. In addition, she performed a commission premiere of David Maslanka’s concerto for clarinet entitled Four Songs for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble (2005). She earned her Bachelor of Music from Arizona State University and continued her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degree work at Michigan State University. Her teachers include Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr (Michigan State University), Keith Stein(Michigan State Univeristy and The Chicago Symphony, Frank Ell (The Netherlands Wind Ensemble), Ronald DeKant (Cincinnati Conservatory), and Fred Ormand (The Univeristy of Michigan). Maxine Ramey is listed on the International Artist Roster of Buffet Clarinets.  Maxine Ramey is the Director of the School of Music at The University of Montana  


Dr. Margaret Nichols Baldridge combines an active teaching schedule with a varied performance calendar.  The violin and viola professor at the University of Montana since 1992, she is a sought after teacher, performer and adjudicator across the state and the Northwest region.  From 1998 to 2007, Dr. Baldridge was Artist Faculty at the internationally acclaimed Brevard Music Center Festival in Brevard, North Carolina. Recently Dr. Baldridge has given clinics and master classes in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Ohio, South and North Carolina, Arizona and New Mexico.  As a dedicated teacher and proponent of string teaching Dr. Baldridge has served as the Montana State ASTA President and as a reviewer for the ASTA journal and the Guide to Teaching Strings 7th Ed. Her diverse performance activities include concerts, master classes and tours with The Sapphire Trio around the United States and abroad. In April 2010, the Sapphire Trio was invited to Jerusalem to judge the Palestine National Music Competition.  While there, the trio performed and gave master classes in Jerusalem, Bethlehem Ramallah. During the Spring of 2011 The Sapphire Trio was again invited to Palestine to give concerts and Master classes as part of the Edward Said conservatory’s Spring Festival.  The trio performed concerts in the Golan Heights, the Galilee area, in addition to Bethlehem and Ramallah. The trio is scheduled to return to Jerusalem in spring of 2012 to judge the Palestinian National Music Competition.   The Other recent engagements with the Sapphire Trio include a seven state US tour and concerts in Ireland.  During May of 2006, the Sapphire Trio were Cultural Ambassadors for the State Department Funded tour of Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where the trio performed concerts at Embassies, schools and for the Kuwait International Music Festival.  The Sapphire trio has performed concerts and master classes in Austria, Germany, and Japan and concerts at national conventions of ASTA, MTNA, AAMC, and at The Mayo Clinic. In August 2010, Dr. Baldridge performed and taught at the Affetti Festival in Anchorage, Alaska.  Other professional performing activities consist of performances, as Leader of The String Orchestra of the Rockies and as concertmaster of The Missoula Symphony, and concerts and tours with the Montana Piano Trio, the resident trio at The University of Montana.  Her performances with these groups have been aired on Public Radio and on String Orchestra of the Rockies CD recordings Under the Northern Sky and We’ll Be Together Again with the Jeni Fleming Trio. Education:  Dr. Baldridge holds DMA and BM degrees from The Eastman School of Music and an MM degree from Northwestern University.  Her teachers include Catherine Tait, Gerardo Ribiero, and Charles Castleman. Previously, Dr. Baldridge performed in orchestras and chamber music groups in the Heidelberg Castle Festival, Germany; The Des Moines Metro Opera Festival, Iowa; and the Flathead Festival, Montana.   Dr. Jody Graves maintains an exciting, diverse and active performing career, and is recognized nationally as a distinguished artist and teacher of piano.  Her recital engagements as a soloist and collaborative pianist take her across the United States and abroad.  She has performed concerts in Austria, Norway, France, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Japan, and in May 2006 toured in the Persian Gulf serving as a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. State Department.  The Middle East Tour, with the Sapphire Trio, included concerts in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.  In April, 2010, she was a judge for the National Palestinian Music Competition in Jerusalem, and following that event toured the West Bank region with the Sapphire Trio performing concerts and giving master classes. The Sapphire Trio returned to the Middle East for a concert tour and master classes in April, 2011, and will tour that region again in March 2012.