Associate professor Margaret Donaghue, the director of the woodwind program at the Frost School of Music, has been awarded the 2025 Phillip Frost Award for Teaching and Scholarship.
A beloved educator who has taught at the Frost School since 1994, and a leader in the field of chamber music and on her instrument, the clarinet, Donaghue was selected by a committee of her faculty peers for the school’s most prestigious honor.
“This is such an honor,” Donaghue said. “I am humbled to receive an award from my peers, and I am so appreciative of my amazing colleagues. What we do here at the Frost School is, of course, all about the students. I am perpetually grateful to every one of my students for the many ways they have enriched my life over the years. This award is a testament to them.”
Donaghue is a member of several chamber groups. They include MiamiClarinet, which she founded with three of her former students, all currently university professors, and which has commissioned over two dozen works and recently released the recording “Wild Winds.” She is the executive director of the Blue Ridge Chamber Music Festival.
An accomplished instrumentalist, Donaghue has performed as a chamber musician and soloist in over a dozen countries in the United States, Europe, and Asia, playing in some of the world’s most famous venues, including Carnegie Hall and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. She has composed several original works which have been performed in Dublin; Long Beach, California; Ft. Worth, Texas; Washington D.C., and Miami, and has recorded for the Centaur, Albany, Altarus and Living Composers labels.
A sought-after clinician and adjudicator who has performed at conferences in Norway, England, Italy, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New Orleans, Donaghue is the immediate past president and Florida State Chair of the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. She has coordinated high school competitions for the International Clarinet Association, and adjudicated numerous times for their Young Artist, High School, and Research competitions.
Donaghue holds a doctorate in music from the University of Illinois, a master’s in music from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s in music from the University of New Hampshire. Prior to joining the Frost School, Donaghue served on the faculties of Central Michigan University and the University of Connecticut.
