Flute Day
Sunday, February 23, 2025
Activities include guest artist recital, masterclasses, flute choir reading and technique classes.
Schedule
9:00 AM Warm-up and Technique Class: Doctoral Flute Candidate Shannon Lotti | Green Room
10:00 AM Middle and High School Mastclass: Dr. Keren Schweitzer, Assistant Teaching Professor of Flute, BGSU | Choral Room
11:00 AM Recital: Dr. Conor Nelson and Doctoral Piano Candidate, Stephen Eckert | Choral Room
12:00 PM LUNCH/BREAK
1:00 PM Masterclass: with Dr. Conor Nelson | Choral Room
2:00 PM Flute Choir Reading | Choral Room
ALL EVENTS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
If interested in participating, please email Dr. Schweitzer at schweik@bgsu.edu
We welcome all ages and abilities to participate!
Host
Flutist Keren Schweitzer has performed with Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and has toured throughout China, Japan, South America, Canada and the United States. She has appeared on numerous occasions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has performed chamber music concerts with its members. Additionally, she has routinely performed as Guest Principal Flute of the Reno Chamber Orchestra. Dr. Schweitzer is currently the Assistant Teaching Professor of Flute at Bowling Green State University. She has also served on faculty at Claremont Graduate University, Mount Saint Mary’s University, Cerritos College, and the Colburn School. Also a published writer, her articles on music have appeared in Symphony Magazine, The Paris New Music Review, and Salon Arts Magazine.
Keren has been the recipient of many awards including the winner of the 2011 Byron Hester Flute Competition, the winner of the 2010 National Flute Association Convention Performer’s Competition, First Prize at the 1997 Flute Talk Competition, and a finalist in the 2000 Concert Artists Guild Competition. While a student, she won the concerto competitions at Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. She has performed at the Tanglewood, Pacific, Spoleto, Caramoor, and Bowdoin Music Festivals and with the Verbier Festival Orchestra. Most recently, she has appeared in recital at the University of Idaho, Pasadena City College, the University of Houston, the 2017 MACCC convention in San Francisco, and at numerous National Flute Association Conventions.
As a flute teacher, her students have recently been accepted to prestigious institutions including the Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, University of Michigan, University of Texas, UCLA, and Cal Arts. She has conducted masterclasses at the University of Idaho, The University of Southern Mississippi, Mexico City/YOLA- LA Philharmonic, and the Instituto Baccarelli. Included among her former flute students are the Principal Flute of the Milwaukee Symphony and a prizewinner in the Munich Competition.
Dr. Schweitzer is a graduate of the University of Michigan with honors, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music where she received her DMA in flute performance. Her principal teachers include Jeanne Baxtresser, Linda Chesis, and Byron Hester.
Guest Artist
Praised for his “long-breathed phrases and luscious tone” by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Canadian flutist Conor Nelson is established as a leading flutist and pedagogue of his generation. Since his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, he has frequently appeared as soloist and recitalist throughout the United States and abroad.
Solo engagements include concerti with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Flint Symphony, and numerous other orchestras. In addition to being the only wind player to win the Grand Prize at the WAMSO Young Artist Competition, he won first prize at the William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition. He also received top prizes at the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition, the Haynes International Flute Competition as well as the Fischoff, Coleman, and Yellow Springs chamber music competitions.
With percussionist Ayano Kataoka he performed at Merkin Concert Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Hall, and Izumi Hall. A recital at the Tokyo Opera City Hall that received numerous broadcasts on NHK Television. Their CD entitled, Breaking Training was released on New Focus Recordings (NYC). His second CD, Nataraja with pianist Thomas Rosenkranz is also available on New Focus. He has collaborated with Claude Frank on the Schneider concert series in NYC and appeared at numerous chamber music festivals across the country including the OK Mozart, Bennington, Skaneateles, Yellow Barn, Cooperstown, Salt Bay, Look and Listen (NYC), Norfolk (Yale), Green Mountain, Chesapeake, and the Chamber Music Quad Cities series.
A respected pedagogue, Dr. Nelson has given master classes at over one hundred colleges, universities, and conservatories. Prior to his appointment at UW-Madison, he served as the flute professor at Bowling Green State University for nine years and as the Assistant Professor of Flute at Oklahoma State University from 2007-2011. His recent residencies include Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China, the Conservatoriode Música de Puerto Rico, and the Associação Brasileira de Flautistas in São Paulo.
He is also a regular guest of the Texas Summer Flute Symposium and has been the featured guest artist for eleven flute associations across the country.
He received degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and Stony Brook University where he was the winner of the schoolwide concerto competitions at all three institutions. He is also a recipient of the Thomas Nyfenger Prize, the Samuel Baron Prize, and the Presser Award. His principal teachers include Carol Wincenc, Ransom Wilson, Linda Chesis, Susan Hoeppner, and Amy Hamilton. Conor is a Powell Flutes artist and is the Associate Professor of Flute at UW-Madison where he performs with the Wingra Wind Quintet.
Updated: 02/18/2025 02:08PM