"Musical Hemispheres"
Artists
Lone Madsen – Clarinet
Intimate, graceful and timeless – 
with her new album, ‘White Sands’, Lone Madsen has taken her professional experience as a classically trained clarinetist and breathed new life into a classic art form. Madsen’s mission is simple yet ambitious: to bring the distinctive timbre of the clarinet – her own enchanting sounds and haunting melodies – to a far wider audience.
The most effective reinterpretations of any art form all too often happen from the inside, out, and Madsen’s take on the classical clarinet is no exception. Born in quiet, quaint Denmark, at the age of four Madsen moved with her family to English shores, to just outside London and the leafy suburb of Surrey. Enchanted by the performing arts, Madsen like many young children, was encouraged to take piano lessons and soon moved off the ivories and on to her first wind instrument – a recorder. One particular Christmas Madsen was given a clarinet as a gift from her parents. Dedicated and enthralled, Madsen spent time racking up her clarinet grades with distinction. Subsequently, she decided the best place to push herself and her medium would be New York City, at the world-renowned Juilliard School. Madsen’s talents were duly noted by the school’s board and the following September, 1998, she found herself playing in the Lincoln Center of Performing Arts. Under the exceptional tutorage of musicians such as clarinetist Charles Neidich, Madsen was able to combine her love of performance with her passion for music.
Since graduating from Juilliard with a Masters degree in 2000, Madsen’s clarinet playing has seen her work with some incredible musical talents. She is well established as a soloist and chamber musician and has performed in prestigious venues such as The Lincoln Center in New York, The Barbican and The South Bank Centre in London, as well as participating in a variety of international music festivals (Aldeburgh, Banff and Sarasota). Lone’s work is creatively diverse: from playing at the Bückeburg Castle in Germany at the behest of Prince Alexander Schaumburg Lippe, and duetting with former Chanticleer Countertenor Terry Barber in recital to composing work for the original soundtrack of Bliss’ ‘They Made History’ album, and Mike Figgis’ ‘A Portrait of London’ for the 50th Anniversary of The London Film Festival. Other important collaborations have seen her work with Andrea Bocelli, Thomas Ades, Milton Babbit, Alfred Brendel, Michael Kamen, Nora Kroll Rosenbaum and the Szymanowski Quartet.
In 2001 Lone Madsen 
formed a classical group, ‘The Lumen Ensemble’. Made up of Madsen on clarinet, Maurycy Banaszek on viola and Jan Rautio on piano. The trio met at a music festival and performed under the instruction of Robert Levin, Charles Neidich and John Perry, playing throughout the US and Europe to great acclaim. A recording of their work was released in 2007, fresh takes on works by Mozart, Bruch and Schumann with Grammy Award-winning Richard King and EMI producer John McCracken. Madsen is also excited to be working with 18-time Grammy Award-winning producer Steven Epstein on her next album and performing with Andrea Bocelli in Los Angeles in the near future.
In addition to her training as a classical musician, drama is something that Lone Madsen has always been taken with. While at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama she took acting and dancing classes in the evening. Madsen’s acting skills won her the part of Miss Grey in Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning adaptation of ‘Sense and Sensibility’.