Name: Clarinet & Piano Recital
Start: 2026-03-25T18:00:00-05:00
Location: 411 North 4th Street, 47591

OUR PERFORMERS
Julianna Darby is the newly appointed principal clarinetist of the Indianapolis Symphony. Prior to joining the Indianapolis Symphony, she served as the second clarinetist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She spent two seasons as a clarinet fellow for the New World Symphony in Miami Beach under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas and Stéphane Denève. She has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Britt Festival Orchestra, and the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra.
Julianna is passionate about collaboration through chamber music. She recently performed with the Atlanta-based Merian Ensemble at Emory University where they performed Elizabeth Younan’s Metamorphosis—commissioned by the ensemble—as soloists with the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra. She also performed in and helped organize the inaugural season of the Classical Remix Festival, a summer project which aims to expand classical music audiences of Atlanta through genre-bending chamber performances.
Julianna holds a Master's degree from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Michael Wayne of the Boston Symphony. While at Eastman, she had her solo debut with the orchestra, performing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in Kodak Hall. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University where she was a Cornelius Vanderbilt scholar and studied with Bil Jackson.
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Jesse McCandless is the newly appointed Principal Clarinetist of the Atlanta Symphony. An ardent orchestral and chamber musician, Mr. McCandless has appeared in performances with the Jacksonville Symphony, New Haven Symphony, and the Florida Orchestra. During his stint with the New World Symphony, he had the privilege of serving under the batons of such artists as Michael Tilson Thomas, Stéphane Denève, Peter Oundjian, and John Williams. Mr. McCandless has collaborated with the Amernet String Quartet and Eighth Blackbird, and has attended the Aspen Music Festival, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Norfolk Chamber Music festival, and the Kent-Blossom Chamber Music Festival.
Mr. McCandless received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and his Master's degree from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Richard Hawkins and David Shifrin, respectively. Other primary influences include Micheal Rusinek of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Michael Wayne of the Eastman School of Music.
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Collaborative pianist Dr. Nicole Ying has built a career at the intersection of artistry, innovation, and service. An active performer, educator, and arts administrator, she is deeply committed to expanding the reach of collaborative piano through performance, teaching, and community engagement.
Nicole has performed with leading artists from major orchestras including principal musicians such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, and Florida Orchestra. She has collaborated with students from the distinguished studios of Rebecca Albers, Atar Arad, Jeff Bradetich, Victoria Chiang, Hans Jensen, Mark Kaplan, Eric Kim, Robert McDuffie, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Kurt Muroki, Alan Stepansky, Peter Stumpf, Jeffrey Turner, among many others. She has worked with influential artists in masterclass settings such as Timothy Day, Michelle DeYoung, Glenn Dicterow, James Ehnes, Christian Lindberg, Matthew Lipman, Paul Merkelo, Raman Ramakrishnan, and members of the Cleveland Quartet, Juilliard Quartet, Emerson Quartet, Ehnes Quartet, and Cavani Quartet.
Nicole holds degrees from UCLA (B.A. in Anthropology, minor in Korean), California Institute of the Arts (M.M. in Piano Performance), Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music (Performer Diplomas in Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano), and University of North Texas (D.M.A. in Collaborative Piano with a related field in Music Business). She is the inaugural Artist Diploma candidate in Collaborative Piano at the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University as the Renasant Scholar. Her primary mentors include Anne Epperson, Jean-Louis Haguenauer, Steve Harlos, Kevin Murphy, Ming Tsu, Elvia Puccinelli, and Kyung-A Yoo. She has also worked under the guidance of renowned collaborative pianists Jean Barr, Jonathan Feldman, Martin Katz, Kathleen Kelly, Ana María Otamendi, and Howard Watkins.