Christian Schubert joined the Houston Symphony as Second Clarinetist in 1996, appointed by then music director Christoph Eschenbach. A native of Burbank, California, Mr. Schubert studied with Kalman Bloch (Principal Clarinet, Los Angeles Philharmonic) for seven years before moving to Chicago to study with Robert Marcellus at Northwestern University, where he received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in music performance. As a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Mr. Schubert also studied with Larry Combs of the Chicago Symphony.
Prior to arriving in Houston, Mr. Schubert played extensively with numerous Chicago area ensembles including the Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, The Chicago Ensemble, as well as performing commercial jingle session work in the Chicago studios. He also served as the second clarinetist and E-flat clarinetist with the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago for 17 seasons between 1991 and 2016. Active as a chamber musician as well as a recitalist, he has been a featured performer at the Schlesswig Holstein Musik Festival, the Mainly Mozart Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival.
Well known for his success in teaching young people, he has served on the music faculties of North Park College in Chicago and the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. He is also the co-founder of Houston Clarinet Camp and has presented masterclasses across the country. A dedicated pedagogue, he has maintained a private instruction studio at home every year of his professional career as well as serving as a lead teacher in several music education initiatives sponsored by the Houston Symphony.
In his time away from performing and teaching, Mr. Schubert owns and operates a recording engineering company, Schubert Recording Services, specializing in the quality digital recording of classical music.
Mr. Schubert exclusively performs and records on Buffet clarinets, and on D’Addario Reserve Classic reeds, and has been a Performing Artist & Clinician for both companies since 2016.