Virginia McDonald

Virginia MacDonald is a Juno Award-winning jazz clarinetist known for a lyrical, soulful tone that has established her as one of the leading clarinet voices of her generation. Born and raised in Toronto and based in New York, she is the daughter of saxophonist Kirk MacDonald and has performed with luminaries including Dick Oatts and Kirk Lightsey. In 2020 she won the International Clarinet Corona Competition, judged by a panel that included Anat Cohen, Ken Peplowski, and Doreen Ketchens. She released her debut album In Search Of on Cellar Music in 2026, a set of mostly original compositions recorded with pianist Geoffrey Keezer, bassist Ira Coleman, and drummer Curtis Nowosad. A Buffet Crampon artist, she also works widely as a sidewoman across the New York and Canadian jazz scenes.