Maxine Ramey received her Bachelor of Music Education from Arizona State University (1979), her Master of Music (1981) and Doctor of Musical Arts (2010) from Michigan State University with her mentor, Elsa Ludewig Verdehr of the Verdehr Trio. She performs on the Selmer Privilege clarinet.
As a clarinet performer, Maxine Ramey has maintained an international reputation in solo and chamber music performance. She is currently Artistic Director of Chamber Music Montana, an organization that hosts annual season concerts, a summer chamber music institute and festival.
She is clarinetist with the Sapphire Trio (clarinet, violin and piano). In their 22nd season, they served as U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassadors in a tour of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, performed in four tours in the West Bank (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus, Ramallah and the Golan Heights region) and served on international juries for the Palestinian National Music Competitions. They toured Japan, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Ireland and most regions of the U.S.
The Trio were featured guest artists at the Spanish National Clarinet / European Clarinet Association Congress in 2013 and performed at many U.S. national clarinet symposia and ICA international Clarinetfests. The Sapphire Trio was featured artist at the 2016 International Clarinet and Saxophone Festival in Medellin, Colombia, South America and at the National Art Museum in Bogota. The Sapphire Trio has been headline performers at national MTNA, ICA, ASTA, conferences, at Music and Medicine conferences at the Mayo Clinic and in Seattle at the American Association of Medical Colleges. The Trio continues to perform the repertoire of the Verdehr Trio and new commissioned works in concert tours in the U.S. and abroad.
From 2010-2015 Maxine Ramey served on the board of the International Clarinet Association (ICA). She was elected by the international membership as president in 2014. During her time on the board, they provided oversight for annual Clarinetfest conferences in Los Angeles, Baton Rouge, Lincoln, Assisi-Italy and Madrid-Spain, held international competitions and produced a quarterly journal, The Clarinet, for a 4000 global membership and research libraries.
She was principal clarinet with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra for 27 years, and UM’s Montana Woodwind Quintet and Montana Woodwind Trio for 20 years. In 1986, she was principal clarinet with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra premiering works by Jacques Castérède, William Bolcom, Jean Françaix, Ivan Tcherepnin and Ivana Loudova during the re-lighting ceremonies at the Statue of Liberty. As a champion of new music, she has premiered works by David Maslanka, Vincent Persichetti and a host of Montana composers. She has performed in 45 of the U.S. States and in 6 continents.
Maxine Ramey was a Professor of Music and Director of the School of Music at the University of Montana and Eastern New Mexico University for 32 years. During her tenure as a professor of music, she had many clarinet students who went on to become performers, professors, composers and all manner of musical entrepreneurs. Maxine Ramey received four awards for meritorious university teaching, creative research and service. In 2008 she was honored as a Distinguished Faculty in the School of Fine Arts, and in 2013 she was awarded the University of Montana Outstanding Administrator Award. She directed four Vienna Study Abroad Programs in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2019 serving over 130 UM music and art students in a life changing arts experience.
In 2015 she served as a Smithsonian Journeys Expert Leader providing lectures and walking tour experiences for the Smithsonian in Hungary, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic and Poland as part of "Symphony on the Danube" educational cruises.
Dr. Maxine Ramey is listed on the International Artist Roster of Selmer Paris Clarinets.
