Clarinetist Kira Bokalders maintains a dynamic music career having played with some of the Pittsburgh Tri-State region's finest ensembles, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera, and Wheeling Symphony.  Since graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with an M.M. in Performance, she has participated in the Pierre Monteux School, Aspen Music Festival, and Opera Steamboat in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Always looking to push the boundaries with eclectic and creative engagements, Kira has performed in a number of progressive, immersive stage productions, including Candide and Ainadamar with Quantum Theatre and several productions of Bricolage's Midnight Radio. She is also the clarinetist for the Allegheny City Ragtime Orchestra with acclaimed jazz pianist Tom Roberts. Her newest project is Windfluence, a Pittsburgh-based woodwind quintet with a wide-ranging repertoire focusing especially on new music for woodwind quintet by American composers.

In addition to performing, Kira maintains an active private teaching studio in the Pittsburgh region.  Her students have gone on to win chairs in the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, PMEA Regional and All-State bands, and also enter into a number of prestigious performing arts secondary schools and colleges.  

She has studied with Michael Rusinek and Thomas Thompson, of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Mitchell Estrin, at the University of Florida; Theodore Oien, formerly of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Ferdinand Steiner, of the Mozarteum Orchester in Salzburg, Austria; and Phil Shapiro, formerly of the Miami Symphony.

Originally from South Florida, Kira is a proud Florida Gator who enjoys running, traveling, seeing movies, and spending time with her husband, clarinetist Ryan Leonard and their cats Willow and Helena.

Images provided by Alisa Garin Photography.