The Latest from My Flute Studio

Between student festivals, competitions and my own gigs, every Sunday in 2009 has been filled so far. No wonder January felt like a blur! My students have been having some great performances around Chicago, including the chance to perform some of their repertoire multiple times. As we have taken time to discuss and incorporate the feedback that they have received from festival and competition judges, each successive performance has gotten more polished and confident.

From among my private students, Leen van Besien played the first movement of Mozart's Concerto in G Major, K 313, for two concerto competitions last month. She won the senior division of Merit School of Music's Concerto Competition which entitles her to a performance with Merit's Symphony Orchestra as well as a spot on the MeritFest program (April 30th at Symphony Center, home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). Leen was also the winner for flute in the Open Division of DePaul Community Music Division's 6th Annual Concerto Festival. As a result, she performed her concerto with the Oistrach Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mina Zikri on February 1st. I was so excited and proud to see her walk out on the stage and the cadenza that she wrote for herself definitely put a personal stamp on her performance.

Merit's Honors Flute Quartet, featuring Jingyi Liu, Julia McGehee, Katie Scotkoswski and Leen van Besien, has played at three events in the new year. On January 18th, they performed as finalists in the Jules M. Laser Chamber Music Competition co-sponsored by Music in the Loft and Society of American Musicians and on January 25th, they competed in the High School Chamber Music Competition sponsored by the Rembrandt Chamber Players. Although they didn't place in either competition, we got some very helpful comments from the judges. The students worked on these suggestions both with me and in their weekly independent rehearsals. After each rehearsal, the students take turns writing rehearsal reports for me. Above you will see a "wordle" from the text of their combined reports and I love the way that this visual display reflects their focus and dedication. Their thoughtful work in independent rehearsals means that we can really concentrate on making music during the time that I spend with them. They are a treat to coach! As they performed music of Dubois and Schocker at Sherwood Conservatory's Festival of Flutes in early February, there was an ending to a movement when I simply thought, "That was like a perfect souffle!" Their performance earned them an Outstanding rating and an invitation to perform on the Festival Honors Recital (March 14 at 2:00).

So, while I'm looking forward to having some free Sundays soon, I wouldn't have missed sharing in any of these events with my students!