autobiography

I started playing the flute at age 10 in public school in Missouri. I had private lessons all through grade school, junior high, and high school.

In high school, I was the featured soloist with the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra for two concerts. I played Chaminade’s Concertino.

I attended and graduated from The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where I studied flute and piccolo with the late Jack Wellbaum, piccoloist of the Cincinnati Symphony, former student of Robert Cavally, and author of Orchestral Excerpts for Piccolo (Theodore Presser, 1999). I won numerous awards in Conservatory competitions, including being chosen over all the flutists (even the masters and doctoral students) as the flutist for the Baroque chamber music trio that was featured at the National Music Educator’s Convention in Anaheim, California. I also won the Conservatory Concerto Competition and appeared as a soloist with the Conservatory orchestra. I played Vivaldi’s “Concerto in a minor”.

After graduation, I won the Concerto Competition and cash prize offered by Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma. I was featured as the flute soloist with the University Orchestra, playing Gordon Jacob’s “Concerto for Flute and Strings.” I continued to play with the Oklahoma City Symphony as a contract player, play studio recording jobs, as well as numerous chamber concerts. I maintained a studio of flute students in Oklahoma City and in Tulsa for many years.

I moved from Tulsa to San Jose, California in 2000. There I was featured as the flute soloist with the Mission Chamber Orchestra, performing part of Claude Bolling’s “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio No. 1” with the amazing Dan Levitan, Harpist, who transcribed the piano part. This was the first concert in the new San Jose City Hall. I was also featured as the piccolo soloist with the Mission Chamber Orchestra, again performing the Vivaldi “Concerto in a minor”, for the Italian-American Festival. I’ve also played flute and piccolo in the woodwind section of that orchestra as well as in the Nova Vista Symphony Orchestra. While in California, I was fortunate to be coached by Maria Tamburrino, former Principal Flute of Symphony Silicon Valley and a former student of Julius Baker.

I now live in Austin, Texas, where I enjoy teaching students of all ages, who earned superior solo ratings and All-Region band experiences.