Gabriel Campos Zamora
Gabriel Campos Zamora, a native of San José, Costa Rica was appointed principal clarinet of the Minnesota Orchestra in June 2016.
PHOTO CREDIT: Zoe Prinds
Gabriel Campos Zamora, a native of San José, Costa Rica is the Principal Clarinet of the Minnesota Orchestra. Before joining the orchestra, Gabriel was the Associate Principal Clarinet of the Kansas City Symphony and has appeared as guest Principal Clarinet with the Cleveland Orchestra and Seattle and Houston Symphonies, in addition to serving as the Virginia Symphony’s Principal Clarinet.
He has served as a clarinet instructor at Saint Olaf College and has taught masterclasses extensively throughout the United States at Indiana, Minnesota, and Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, DePaul Universities, and the Interlochen Arts Academy, among others. He has also been on the faculty as an instructor for the Interlochen Arts Camp and Carnegie Hall’s NYO2 Program.
Gabriel regularly participates at the VIVO Chamber Music Festival in Columbus, Ohio; the Lakes Area Music Festival; and performed at the Marlboro Music Festival. A laureate of several competitions, he received first prize at the 2008 Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition, in addition to winning concerto competitions at the 2009 Aspen Music Festival, 2010 Music Academy of the West, and 2011 National Repertory Orchestra.
Gabriel began his musical training at the Instituto Nacional de Musica as a student of Jose Manuel “Cheche” Ugalde. He then came to the United States to study at the Interlochen Arts Academy with Nathan Williams and later received his bachelor’s degree in music from the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, where he studied with renowned professor Yehuda Gilad. He has been a participant at the Aspen, Music Academy of the West, National Repertory Orchestra, Spoleto, and the Tanglewood Music Center festivals.