The "A Special Young Woman From Lancaster, Pennsylvania" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at a very familiar face tucked in to the right side of the front page of LNP Newspaper.  Then it struck me who it was, even before reading the article titled "Lancaster clarinetist wins Grammy Award".  Young woman by the name of Doris Hall-Gulati.  I had known her most of her life as Doris Hall.  She is about the same age as my children and was part of the Sunday School class at St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster that my children were part of for many years.  At the time she was just beginning to play the clarinet and played the instrument a few times in church for special occasions.  Well, that was many years ago and she has become such an accomplished musician that she recently won a Grammy at the Grammy Premiere Ceremony on February 10th.  I remember her as a very soft spoken young girl who blended into the background most of the time.  

Doris Hall-Gulati, clarinetist

Boy, was I wrong.  She now teaches at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania as well as Lancaster Bible College.  Her award was for her work on Lansing McClosky's "Zealot Canticles" which was performed by the choral group "The Crossing," in the best choral performance category.  Doris is a clarinet soloist on the recording.  She has many amazing credits to list behind her name and is an artist-in-residence, the Sound Horizons concert series coordinator, chamber music coordinator at F&M as well as teacher at Lancaster Bible College.  The piece for which she played the clarinet, "Zealot Canticles", is based on Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka's "Twelve Canticles for the Zealot."  Lansing's musical response is intended as a plea for peace and tolerance, while recognizing the difference "between devotion and intolerance."  She told the Lancaster newspaper that she sometimes is surreal, calming and sublime while other times a zealot screaming from the depths.  Doris can also be heard on the MMC, Naxos and New World record labels.  She will soon be recording new works with "The Crossing" in March, June and September of this year as well as Lyric Fest in April of this year.  

Recording for which Doris won a Grammy 

Doris is the Principal Clarinet in The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Ocean City Orchestra, New Jersey Pops Orchestra and the Pennsylvania Philharmonic Orchestra.  A long list of other accomplishments can be found online if you care to see them.  In 2011 she became an Artist-in-Residence at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster and four years later joined the faculty of the Lancaster Bible College.  Doris earned her Bachelor's degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and her Masters in Music while studying on a graduate fellowship from the University of Michigan.  Some of her instructors have been Ignatius Gennusa, Loren Kitt and Fred Ormand.  Doris is married to Andy Gulati.  They are part of a grass roots organization composed of college students and local craftspeople whose mission is to help those in need.  A month ago they traveled to New Orleans to assist with the continuing recovery from Hurricane Katrina.  It was back in 2015 that I heard her play the bass clarinet in the "Jesus Christ Superstar Mass". I still remember when she took music lessons on the piano years ago with Mr. Frank McConnell who was the organist and choirmaster at St. James Episcopal where I am a member.  I haven't her play the clarinet recently, but I'm proud that I had a chance to hear this young women play as a young adult.  She is well deserving of the Grammy Award that she recently won.  And, to me, she still looks the same as I remember her from years ago.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.