12th MTSU Flute Festival This Saturday!

The 12th annual MTSU Flute Festival, featuring guest artist Alexa Still of theOberlin (Ohio) Conservatory of Music, will begin with registration at 8:00 o'clock this Saturday morning, (1/28/2012) in the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.

A public recital by flutist Still and MTSU faculty pianist Lillian Pearson will begin at 1:00 o'clock this coming Saturday afternoon in Hinton Hall.

"Alexa Still is one of my favorite flutists of all time," said Dr. Deanna Little, professor of flute at MTSU and organizer of the event. "She is a beautiful player with amazing tone colors, control—just a true musician. I am very excited to have her at MTSU and believe this will be one of our most inspiring festivals ever."

Participating flutists may register at the door with a $15 fee. Members of the public may register as guests for one or all of the public concerts and competitions for a $5-per-person charge.

The opening session is at 8:30 this Saturday morning in Hinton Hall, “Get Your Flute Groove On!”, where all festival participants will play. A simultaneous session for parents, "How to Help and Motivate Your Students!", will be offered in Saunders Fine Arts 101.

Flute exhibits featuring manufacturers, flute products and flute repair will open at 9 a.m., and 9:30 a.m. brings a morning session with Still followed by High School Solo Competition, Junior Solo Competition, and Orchestral Excerpts Competition all commencing at 10:30 a.m. Before breaking for lunch, the Festival Flute Choir, featuring event participants, will perform in Hinton Hall.

Still and Pearson’s public recital will be followed by Still’s 2:15 p.m. master class for festival participants. The day’s events will conclude with a final concert featuring the winners of the high-school and junior competitions, members of the Festival Flute choir and others.

Still is known internationally for her many recordings on the Koch International Classics label, including 13 solo CDs. A New Zealander, Still’s graduate study was at the State University of New York-Stony Brook, where she also won the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition and East and West Artists Competition.

By age 23, she was the principal flutist of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Before accepting her current position at the Oberlin Conservatory, she taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Sydney (Australia) Conservatorium of Music, where she was professor of flute and director of performance research. Still maintains a busy concert schedule of recitals, concertos and master classes around the world.