Carmen Izzo

Carmen Izzo has been heard in a variety of concert halls throughout the globe, with his playing hailed as “impeccably haunting” by Opera Today. He currently serves as Principal Clarinet of the Boise Philharmonic and Assistant Principal Clarinet/Bass Clarinet of the Las Vegas Philharmonic. As an educator, Carmen is on faculty at the College of Idaho and Northwest Nazarene University and maintains an active private lesson studio.

In 2024, Carmen was featured as a soloist performing Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto with the Boise Philharmonic. Previously, he has served as Principal Clarinet of the Central City Opera Orchestra, Co-Principal Clarinet of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

Recently, Carmen has performed in music festivals such as the Artosphere Festival, Music in the Mountains, Mendocino Music Festival, Ballet Sun Valley, and Sun Valley Music Festival. He also appeared with orchestras around the world including the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, Macao Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Music of the Baroque, Virginia Symphony and the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra. Carmen holds degrees from the University of Southern California and DePaul University. His principal teachers were Julie DeRoche, Larry Combs and Yehuda Gilad.

Carmen is the first and current President of the Greater Idaho Musician’s Association, Local 423 of the American Federation of Musicians. Alongside his fearless colleagues, he was featured on the cover of the June 2019 International Musician and has been a guest speaker at the 101st AFM convention and the 2020 Regional Orchestra Players Association.