Dr. Ivan Valbuena is one of the most recognized Latin American clarinetists of his generation. He is the winner of the Matthew Ruggiero International Clarinet Competition 2017, a rigorous competition with dozens of applicants around the world, worldwide acclaimed judges and a $10,000 prize. Ivan is also the winner of the Harold Wright Clarinet Award organized by the Boston Woodwind Society in 2014, second prize of the National Performance Competition “Ciudad de Bogota” in 2011, winner of the Concerto Competition and the Honors Competition at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA 2013, first prize at the Bogota Chamber Music Competition in 2010, Young Performers Series of Luis Angel Arango Library in 2009, winner of the Bogota Philharmonic Soloists Competition in 2010, first prize in the Graduate Clarinetists Festival Competition in 2008, first prize at the Collegium Musicum Orchestra Soloist competition in 2002 and second prize in the ClariBogota Clarinet Festival Competition in 2010, among others.

Ivan has been featured as a soloist with Cusco Symphony Orchestra in Peru and the Symphony Pro Musica Orchestra of Boston in concerts in Hudson and Westborough, MA, starring the premier of Montilla’s Fantasia Concertante for two clarinets and Orchestra, a virtuosic piece dedicated to him and commissioned by the Symphony Pro Musica in 2015. He also performed as guest soloist with the Lab Symphony Orchestra at the Bates Recital Hall in Austin TX and the Longy Chamber Orchestra, performing the Copland Concerto at Pickman Hall Auditorium in Cambridge, MA. He has also appeared as soloist with the Collegium Musicum Orchestra in the Colon Theater in Bogota and the Cundinamarca Symphony Band as guest soloist in the First International Clarinet Festival ClariBogota 2010. Ivan has performed soloist recitals in several venues including an honoring solo recital at the Pierce Hall at New England Conservatory, as the winner of the Matthew Ruggiero International Clarinet Competition in 2018. He has performed solo recitals at the Bates Hall, Jessen Auditorium, Pickman Hall, First Church of Cambridge, Hall of the Americas and the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington D.C., Central University Theater, Oriol Rangel Auditorium, Teresa Cuervo Auditorium, Olav Roots Auditorium and the prestigious Luis Angel Arango Concert Hall at Bogota, among others.

Dr. Valbuena is also an active orchestra player. He is performed as acting principal clarinet of the New Mexico Philharmonic and he is currently performing as assistant principal and E-flat with the San Antonio Philharmonic Orchestra. He has appeared with the Austin Symphony, Mid-Texas Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, Boston Civic Orchestra, Central Texas Philharmonic, Simon Bolivar Orchestra conducted by the worldwide acclaimed Gustavo Dudamel, the Grammy winners Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Americas, Bogota Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Pro Musica and St Mark’s Symphony Orchestra among others. He has also performed as guest artist in renown ensembles such as Density512 Collective, Pale Blue Ensemble, Subito Ensemble, Cadenza clarinet quartet and A Dos Music Project Ensemble. Ivan has also recorded music sessions for KUTX 89.9 Eklektikos Radio Show hosted by John Aielli.

As member of the Orchestra of the Americas, Dr. Valbuena has performed in several venues in Europe, North and South America including the Krzyztof Penderecki European Center for Music in Poland, the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico and Teatro Municipal de las Condes in Santiago de Chile. He has served as principal clarinetist for six consecutive years and has performed starring roles including his performance of the challenging Variaciones Concertantes by Ginastera in the Nordic-Baltic tour in 2016. Ivan was also selected among hundreds of applicants from the American continent to be one of the eight leaders and pioneers of the Global Leaders Program to develop musical missions in Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Panamá and United States.

Dr. Valbuena is the co-founder of the “A Dos Music Pr