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2018 International Low Flutes Festival

Christine Potter | February 2018


    The 2018 International Low Flutes Festival will take place April 6-8, 2018 at the Sheraton Reston in Reston, Virginia. Alto, bass, contra-alto, contrabass, subcontrabass in G and double contrabass flutes will all be featured. Events include a choir and four sightreading sessions open to everyone, premieres of new pieces, an alto flute competition, workshops and, headliner performances by Matthias Ziegler, Suzanne Teng, Peter Sheridan, and jazz virtuoso Ali Ryerson. Composer Andrea Clearfield will be in attendance for the premiere of her low flutes piece.
 

Farewell Low Flutes Choir
    The Farewell Choir will be directed by Elise Carter and is open to any low flutes player who would like to participate. They will play Sunday afternoon at the closing ceremonies. Sign-up is available on the Festival website.

Sightreading Sessions 
    Reading sessions will be lead by Phyllis Avidan Louke, Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda, and Paige Dashner Long. One will feature arrangements of Broadway and movies tunes. Ali Ryerson will lead a jazz session accompanied by her sidemen. 

Low Flutes Choirs 
    Choirs from Turkey, the UK, Japan and Canada will present concerts. Paige Dashner Longs’s ContraBand Friends and Florida Flute Orchestra as well as several other U.S. choirs will also be performing. Pieces include: Contra-fusion, Deep Space Heat Wave, Low Flutes at High Tides, Flutenado, Yankees Doodlin’ and Groovin’ Low. Arrange-ments to be performed include one of Haydn’s London Trios, Piazzolla’s Libertango, a Karg-Elert Caprice, Opus de Funk by Horace Silver, Debussy’s Syrinx and the Bach Brandenburg Concertos, Nos. 3 and 6. 

Featured Performers 
    In addition to the four headliners’ evening concerts, soloists at the Festival include Alexa Still, Carla Rees, Aaron Goldman, Cobus du Toit, Catherine Bull, Elizabeth Buck, Magda Schwerzmann, Sharyn Byer, and Phyllis Avidan Louke. Contrabass player Pamela De Sensi from Iceland will present a concert, as will performers from Sweden, France, and Switzerland. 

Workshops 
    Alexa Still will lead a workshop about improving breathing and breath control. Flutist Suzanne Teng will present a workshop on inspirations for creating music for low flutes. Carl Dimow will teach how to play in the klezmer style, and Kate Walsh will explain how to play the flute d’amoure. Kelly Mollnow Wilson will demonstrate how small hands can play big flutes, and Mariana Gariazzo will present a workshop on performance anxiety. Peter Sheridan will talk about new music for alto flute, and Icelandic composer Elín Gunnlaugsdóttir will present Music from the Land of Extremes. 

Featured Composers 
    Concerts will feature the music of Jonathan Cohen, Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda, Sophie Dufeutrelle from France and Australian Houston Dunleavy. Other performances will include works by Russell Scarbrough, Jacques Casterede, J.S. Bach, Andre Jolivet, Franz Danzi, and Gary Schocker. 

Exhibit Area 
    There will be an exhibit area for those wanting to try low flutes and explore music and performance aids for low flutes. For more information, go to www.lowflutesfestival.org


Christine Potter
Festival Director,
International Low Flutes Festival