Clare Adkins Cason is a native of Denton, Texas, where she was born into the musical Adkins family. At the age of four, she began her study of violin under the guidance of Dr. James Lerch at the University of North Texas, where she later continued as an undergraduate. At UNT, Clare served as concertmaster of the University Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra, and the Baroque orchestra and twice appeared with the Symphony as a concerto competition winner. In the academic area, she was named a Presser Scholar and was chosen by the faculty as the Outstanding Undergraduate in Music.

Since her graduation, Clare has served as concertmaster of the Sherman Symphony, principal second violinist of the East Texas Symphony, and concertmaster of the Dallas Bach Society, with whom she has been featured as soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. She has also enjoyed performing chamber music with her siblings–violinists Elisabeth, Alexandra, and Madeline and cellists Christopher and Anthony–who, with Elisabeth’s husband, pianist Edward Newman, comprise the Adkins String Ensemble. In 1994 the group was presented in an official debut at the Meyerson Symphony Center by the UNT College of Music. Since then, the Ensemble has released six CD recordings, among them several live performances from their concerts and one of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht at the time of the work’s centenary in 1999. Their most recent area concert was at UNT in April 2013, when Clare and her siblings were recognized as Distinguished Alumni by the College of Music.

Teaching has been Clare’s chief enthusiasm, and she particularly appreciates working with beginning students. She has developed special approaches to help young players avoid stress and tension while preserving their delight in music-making. To this end, she has compiled the fourteen-volume Mountain Road series for beginning violinists. Clare takes great pleasure in playing and teaching Irish fiddle and has been much involved in the burgeoning Irish music scene as co-director of the O’Flaherty Irish Music Youth Camp and Music Director of the North Texas School of Irish Music.