The McIntire Department of Music is pleased to present the third annual University of Virginia Flute Forum, taking place on Saturday, March 31, 2018. The UVA Flute Forum is a day-long flute festival which features master classes, interactive workshops, and recitals. All events are free and open to the public.

This year's Forum will feature Marie Tachouet, Principal Flutist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, alongside guest artists Erika Boysen, Sam Golter, David Le, Brianne Little, Lindsay Leach-Sparks, and Allison Shearer. Attendees are also encouraged to bring their flutes to participate in a flute choir reading session. 

Although all events are free and open to the public, participants are encouraged to register in advance for the UVA Flute Forum. (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf_oH2d0V4cEzRilydIcvLVAge5tF2rpjrKYOYn9ZlkgJLXJw/viewform). For more information, please contact Kelly Sulick at kas6am@virginia.edu

Marie Tachouet is Principal Flute of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and serves on the flute faculty at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts. She has performed as principal flute with the Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, Sarasota Opera, Joffrey Ballet, and Pittsburgh Opera orchestras and has also performed with the Pittsburgh and Oregon symphonies. An advocate of contemporary music, Marie has worked closely with composers including Charles Wuorinen, Elliot Carter, and John Zorn in venues such as the Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, and the Guggenheim. She has recently led master classes at the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, DePaul University, University of Arkansas, and Western Illinois University, and has been a guest artist at The Consummate Flutist and Credo Flute workshops.

Praised by the New York Times for her “extraordinary agile” solo playing, she has been a soloist with the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic, Olympia (WA) Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Akron Symphony., and University of Michigan Symphony Band. Marie graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon University as a student of Jeanne Baxtresser, Alberto Almarza, and Amy Porter. She is the sole recipient of the 2016 Paul Boylan award, a recognition given to Michigan alumni for outstanding contributions in the field of music. 

Erika Boysen is an international performer, educator and collaborator who is the Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Known for her verve and energy while teaching, Erika has previously served as faculty at the Interlochen Arts Academy and Interlochen Arts Camp, Northwestern Michigan College and Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts. 

Committed to developing new and innovative ways of presenting and teaching the traditional model of classical flute, the majority of her research and scholarship focuses on cross-disciplinary collaboration between the arts. Through movement, singing and acting, she promotes an approach to education and performance that highlights multiple aspects of artistic expression. 

Erika has toured across the United States and Europe performing in a variety of chamber, orchestral and improvisation-based ensembles. Currently, as a member of the UNCG East Wind Quintet, Seen/Heard Trio and COLLAPSS Ensemble (Collective for Happy Sounds), she is dedicated to championing music of living composers. Erika has received orchestral fellowships from the Aspen Music Festival, Texas Music Festival and Brevard Music Festival having worked with conductors: Christian Arming, David Robertson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano and Hugh Wolff. These orchestral and chamber pursuits are complemented by her appearances at ArtX Detroit, Meadowbrook, and Culture Lab Festivals as a part of Shara Nova’s indie rock/alternative pop band, My Brightest Diamond. 

A native of Iowa, Dr. Boysen received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan, Master of Music from the New England Conservatory and Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. 

Sam Golter is a flutist and pop musicologist who is equally committed towards performing new music as he is towards giving new life to music of the past. He is particularly interested in electroacoustic and improvised music, and has commissioned and premiered a number of works, including BMI Student Composer Award-winning “Contrails” for flute and electronics by Daniel Miller. He has performed electroacoustic works at the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) conference and the Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS) in Lübeck, Germany, and solo and group improvisations at The Stone and The Deep Listening Space in New York. Sam was the principal flute of the Eugene Concert Orchestra, and was hailed by the Register Guard for his “huanting” solos in the premiere of Joan Szymko’s award-winning “Shadow and Light.” Sam was also recognized as a semifinalist in the NFA’s Young Artist Competition in 2014 and has won the Flute Society of Washington’s Wallace Mann Orchestral Excerpt Competition and is a two-time winner of WPR’s Neale-Silva Young Artist Competition. In addition to performing, Sam is interested in teaching and music activism and he has been featured in interviews on Voice of America and Diverse Magazine for his work with Haitian music schools. 

Sam recently graduated with an MM in flute performance and an MA in musicology from the University of Oregon where he served as Molly Barth’s teaching assistant. He was also an assistant in the musicology and ethnic studies departments at Oregon. As a musicologist, he is interested in issues of gender, race, and censorship in hip hop and popular music. He holds bachelor’s degrees in flute performance and gender studies from Lawrence University where he studied under Erin Lesser and Ernestine Whitman. He is the editor of Pauline Oliveros’ Anthology of Text Scores which contains dozens of previously unpublished scores and meditations, including “A Fluting Moment”, which has been recorded and performed across the world by Claire Chase of the International Contemporary Ensemble.

David Le, a Miyazawa Emerging Artist, leads a diverse career based in Baltimore, Maryland. He won the Young Artist Competitions of the Florida Flute Association and Hampton Roads Flute Faire, among others. As an orchestral musician, he has appeared with the Florida Lyric Opera, Experiential Orchestra, Hunt Valley Symphony, and Occasional Symphony. Mr. Le can be heard on several albums, as soloist with the McCormick Percussion Group (Ravello Records) and Principal Flute of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Marin Alsop and Leonard Slatkin (Naxos American Classics).

Mr. Le has performed nationally at the conferences of the American Bandmasters Association, Florida Flute Association, Florida Music Educators Association, and National Flute Association. A dedicated teacher, he has presented masterclasses and clinics throughout the country. He served on the flute faculty of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids program and maintains a large private studio.

David earned a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he was awarded a full scholarship and the Clinton Lee Arrowood Memorial Prize in Flute. A native Floridian, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida as a Presser Foundation Scholar and Distinguished Graduate in The Arts. His principal teachers include Kim McCormick and Marina Piccinini. For more information, please visit www.davidleflute.com.

A versatile performer and pedagogue, Dr. Brianne Little is a successful freelance flutist and teacher. Brianne is currently Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music at Piedmont Virginia Community College where she teaches music theory, basic musicianship, music appreciation, and applied flute lessons. Additionally, she is the faculty advisor for PVCC’s Music Club. In Virginia, Brianne has enjoyed playing with the Ash Lawn Opera, Virginia Oratorio Society, and Charlottesville Symphony. Brianne enjoys frequent collaborations with voice, trumpet, and percussion colleagues and maintains an active private studio in Central Virginia. Brianne’s recent performances include faculty recitals at PVCC and a performance in the National Flute Association’s Master class 102 at the 2017 NFA convention.

Brianne holds degrees from James Madison University (DMA), Colorado State University (MM), and Capital University (BA). Her DMA research focused on the role of the flute as a narrator in Jon Lord's suite for flute, piano, and strings: To Notice Such Things. She was awarded graduate assistantships at both JMU and CSU. A skilled chamber music coach, Brianne led the CSU flute choir to a national performance at the 2012 National Flute Association Convention in Las Vegas with a musical program by Colorado composers, Brianne was Principal Flutist of the James Madison University Symphony Orchestra, Colorado State University Symphony Orchestra, and 3rd Flute/piccolo with the Capital University/Bexley Community Symphony Orchestra. She was a 3rd Place Winner in the Colorado State University Concerto Competition 2012 where she performed Carl Reinecke's Concerto in D with the CSU Symphony Orchestra. Subsequently, Brianne was a featured soloist on the CSU Symphony's tour of Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Aspen, and Breckenridge, Colorado. She was an active member of the Boulder Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota National Women’s Music Fraternity where she served two years on the Executive Board as Editor. Brianne also served as the Vice-President of Student Engagement with JMU's Graduate Student Association for the 2015/2016 school year. Brianne is an alumni member of Sigma Alpha Iota, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Alpha Theta.

Brianne has performed or taught lessons and master classes in Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, and Italy. Her major teachers include Beth Chandler, Michelle Stanley, and Lisa A. Jelle. She has participated in the master classes of Jill Felber, Jennifer Parker-Harley, William Bennett, Marianne Gedigian, Paula Robison, Sharon Sparrow, Jeff Zook, Stephanie Jutt, Gary Shocker, and Rhonda Larson. 

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pa., flutist and Muramatsu artist, Lindsay Leach-Sparks, enjoys a varied performance and teaching career in the U.S and abroad having given recitals in Europe, North America, and Asia. As a soloist, she has been featured with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, the Moore County Wind Symphony in the Carolinas, the Royal Academy Modern Instrument Baroque Orchestra, the Adastra Ensemble, and in recital at Le Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain in Nice, France. She has been honored in the Jean-Pierre Rampal International Flute Competition in Paris, the Maxence Larrieu International Flute Competition in Nice, and the National Flute Association’s Young Artist, Piccolo Artist, and Baroque Artist competitions. In early 2010, she was one of two American representatives in the Beijing Nicolet International Flute Competition in China.

An avid orchestral musician, she has performed under the batons of David Zinman, James Conlon, André Previn, Gustav Meyer, David Robertson, Edward Polochick, Lan Shui, Maris Jansens, Edward Cumming, Murry Sidlin, Charles Jones Evans, and Josep Caballé-Domenech in groups such as the Moscow Ballet Orchestra, the Opera Carolina, the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, the Amadeus Orchestra and Chorus in the UK, and the Peter Maxwell Davies Ensemble (RAM). She currently holds piccolo positions with the Long Bay Symphony (SC), Symphony Orchestra Augusta (GA), and the Columbus Symphony (OH).

Dr. Leach-Sparks currently serves as Lecturer of Flute at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In addition, she is the Online Professor of Jazz History and World Music in the graduate school at Rutgers University and Instructional Leader for the North Carolina Virtual Public School, creating the online music programs at both institutions. Her previous appointments include being Professor of Flute at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC. She is a recipient of the PEO Scholar Award as well as the North Carolina Arts Council’s Regional Artist Grant (funding from the state of North Carolina and local arts councils in Cumberland, Lee, Moore, New Hanover, Harnett and Richmond counties), through which she has had the opportunity to produce her first solo flute CD One of a Kind with London-based pianist Philip Richardson. In 2014, the Orange County Arts Council Artist Grant helped in part to fund her newest chamber recording Rediscovering Hugo Kauder currently available on the Albany label.

Dr. Leach-Sparks frequently writes articles for Flute Talk magazine and remains active in research and performance on historical flutes. She holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory (BM: Flute and MM: Piccolo), the Royal Academy of Music (PG Diploma), and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (DMA), and her European studies culminated at the Académie International d’Eté de Nice, France with Philippe Bernold. Her major teachers are Brad Garner, Randy Bowman, Clare Southworth, and Laurie Sokoloff.

Allison Shearer, MOT, OTR/L CHT is both a musician and an occupational therapist/certified hand therapist. As a flutist, Allison received her Bachelor of Arts in Music and Biology from the University of Virginia in 2009. As a therapist, she received her Master of Occupational Therapy from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011. Allison specializes in orthopedic treatment of the upper extremity and has contributed as an author to various professional publications including the seventh edition of Hand & Upper Extremity Rehabilitation: A Quick Reference Guide and Review and International Musician. She has a particular interest in treating musicians' injuries and is currently completing a post-graduate program in Performing Arts Medicine at Shenandoah University. She is also the founder of Resonance Wellness, where she offers holistic injury management and prevention services for musicians.

Jocelyn Huang is a conductor and flutist in her 4th year of study at UVA, double majoring in music and statistics and minoring in entrepreneurship. She is the former principal conductor of Cavalier Symphony Orchestra and pit orchestra director of First Year Player's Addams Family production. Jocelyn has studied conducting under Anthony Maiello, Kate Tamarkin, Michael Slon, and Benjamin Rous. Past works conducted with full orchestra include Magnificent Seven, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, The Force Awakens, Throne Room, the William Tell Overture, In the Hall of the Mountain King, Adventures on Earth, and Night on Bald Mountain. 

Jocelyn current studies in Kelly Sulick's flute studio at UVA and has performed with the Charlottesville Symphony, UVA Flute Ensemble, UVA Wind Ensemble, and Cavalier Symphony Orchestra, for which she currently serves as principal flutist. 

This event is supported by the Eleanor Shea Music Trust.

Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda (map). Parking is available in the Central Grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Road, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner. 

Please call the Music Department at 434.924.3052 for more information.

All events are subject to change.