The Prickly Pear Clarinet Ensemble

Chamber Ensemble

The Prickly Pear Clarinet Ensemble was organized in 2015 by Robert & Jean Lake. The Lakes relocated to Lakehills, TX, from Minneapolis in 2014. While in Minnesota, they organized a clarinet choir comprising the Encore Wind Ensemble clarinet section. Having a large stack of clarinet choir music in their library, and having enjoyed the genre, the Lakes set about forming a clarinet choir here, to fill that musical void in their lives.

There are several clarinet choirs in the San Antonio area, but Prickly Pear wanted to have a small ensemble, with no more musicians than were needed to cover the parts – usually one musician per part. This yields the more intimate & transparent sound that’s so pleasing in chamber music works.

A founding member suggested the name, Prickly Pear, because the ensemble is somewhat of a quirky group of 8 Texans (mostly immigrants from the other 49 states!) who enjoy musical interaction with one another, honing our musicianship, aspiring to interpret compositions as the composers or arrangers envisioned, and sharing our performances with live audiences.

Much like the beautiful and sweet fruit of the prickly pear plant, the Prickly Pear Clarinet Ensemble desires to add a spritely sweetness to the musical offerings of Texas.