Sunshine Simmons is bass clarinet/ clarinet 3 of the New Mexico Philharmonic. She completed her Doctor of Music degree at Northwestern University and is currently the Assistant Professor of clarinet at the University of North Florida. Comfortable with the entire range of instruments in the clarinet family, she has held positions of Bass Clarinet with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Principal Clarinet with the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Second Clarinet and E-flat clarinet with the Illinois Philharmonic, and Bass Clarinet with the Quad City and Rockford Symphony Orchestras. She has also enjoyed performing with the Chicago Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Grant Park Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Santa Fe Opera.
Sunshine’s chamber music activities have included performances with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, eighth blackbird, International Chamber Artists, and Chatter. Festival involvement has included the Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and the Frutillar Music Festival in Chile.
A native of Pennsylvania, Sunshine holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and Northwestern University. Her principal teachers have been J. Lawrie Bloom, Steven Cohen, and Thomas Thompson.
