Clark, Ian

Born by a chemist father (who played at the UK National Youth Orchestra) and a mother who gave private lessons in cello and piano, Clark's music classes began on a recorder at age 6. He began playing piano at the age of 8 and began to study music. He developed an interest in flute at the age of 10, so he began to teach himself to play the flute. After early private lessons from clarinet teachers, at the age of 16, he began taking private lessons with Simon Hunt and Averil Williams at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. ^[one]

While Clark listened to classical music as a child, over time, he began to show an increasing interest in rock music. Clark read math for a year at the London School of Economics, but then left the university for a year to focus on playing the flute, where his teachers also included Kate Lucas. He also formed a rock band. He continued part-time in Guildhall, giving private lessons and speaking with his rock band. He moved to Imperial College London to complete his degree, and graduated with honors in mathematics in 1986. ^[one]

Ian Clark and his rock band recorded the album in 1987, which was called "Environmental Images". The group was developing and by 1992 it was called "Diva Music", the collaboration between Clark and Simon Painter allowed Diva Music to be released as music for film and television. ^[one]

Since 2000, Clark has been a flute professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He gave master classes at the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and Trinity College of Music, and was regularly invited to stage and conduct master classes on the numerous flutes of Events and Summer Schools at the International level. Along with Claire Southworth, Clark led Volding's Summer School for many years. In 2013, he began teaching and performing at the Scottish Summer School.

Clark made his debut in 2001 as a guest soloist at the National Flute Association's (NFA) International Flute Festival in Dallas. He was a guest artist on the Hungarian National Flute in 2003 and was the main artist at the NFA Congress in San Diego in 2005. Since then, he has acted as a guest soloist at major congresses in Italy, Brazil, Slovenia, Hungary, the Netherlands and more than once for the British Flute Society (BFS) and for the NFA.

In 2005, Clarke released his debut CD Inside, which featured twelve of his own compositions. Clark composed classical pieces for solo flute, for flute and piano, and for the “flute choir”. His composition makes extensive use of advanced techniques - jet whistles, timbral trills, alternative fingering and simultaneous singing and playing. Clark's work attracted increased public attention in the UK, then flutist David Smith decided to perform Clark's "Zoom Tube" in the 2008 BBC Wood Brass Finals.