Due to the 2025 Dallas Marathon on Saturday and Sunday, we recommend arriving earlier than usual. These events will cause increased traffic and parking congestion in the area.

Learn More
Back to Paul Hafley

Paul Hafley

Associate Principal and E-Flat Clarinet

Robert E. & Ruth Glaze Chair

Hailing from San Diego, California, Paul Hafley joins the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal and Eb Clarinetist at the start of the 2025/2026 season. He served as Principal Clarinet of the Corinth Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019 and has appeared as a guest with the Washington National Opera, Washington Opera Society, and Sunflower Music Festival. Previous festival fellowships include the National Repertory Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, Round Top Festival Institute and Brevard Music Center.

In 2020, Hafley won the International Clarinet Association’s Young Artist and Orchestral Excerpt Competitions, becoming the first and only clarinetist to win both flagship competitions in the same year. As a soloist, Hafley has performed with Sinfonietta Memphis as well as the University of Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble.

Hafley holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of Memphis with additional studies at The New England Conservatory of Music and The University of Texas in Austin. His notable teachers include Jonathan Gunn, Michael Wayne, Yehuda Gilad, Frank Renk and Robyn Jones.

Hafley served in the United States Navy Band in Washington, DC from 2021-2025.