About Me
I am so grateful to have had the best possible opportunities: teaching students of all ages, studying with wonderful teachers, being a member of numerous professional orchestras, touring and performing throughout the country, and founding my own high school of the arts. I was born and raised in the Schenectady area and attended Scotia-Glenville High School.
While growing up in the Capital Region, I studied flute privately, was a member of the Empire State Youth Orchestra, and attended the NYSSSA School of Orchestral Studies. These experiences have stayed with me for a lifetime, and have inspired my teaching and performing over the last few decades.
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After high school, I attended the State University of New York College at Fredonia, where I completed the Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance, Performer's Certificate, and NY State Teaching Licensure (Music K-12). After graduation, I taught public school music in Chautauqua County. For graduate studies, I earned the Master of Music degree at West Virginia University, where I taught courses in Music Theory and Music Education. It was here that Opus Four Flute Quartet was formed. We were a quartet of fierce lady flutists who performed and recorded regularly, and toured the Northeastern United States. You can hear some of our work on the Listen page.
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While studying at WVU, I was appointed to a teaching position at the North Carolina Governor's School, a summer program for academically gifted high school students.
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I was the luckiest person on Earth, doing exactly what I loved - performing, studying, and teaching 12 months a year! I continued my position at the North Carolina Governor's School for the next 15 years. I completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where I taught applied flute lessons and courses in Music Education.
While attending UNCG, I was the recipient of the school's "Outstanding Graduate Student" award, was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda (National Music Honor Society) and was a winner of the School of Music's concerto competition. You can hear some of that performance on the Listen page.
From 2005-2012, I was the applied flute instructor at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and was a member of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra.
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In 2012, I founded Longleaf School of the Arts, an academically rigorous, college-preparatory high school with an arts focus. I have led the startup for more than a dozen new schools in North Carolina, and have served on several school boards. I continue to write curriculum, serve as a consultant, and collaborate with teachers to integrate the arts into their classrooms.
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My flute instructors include Murray Panitz, Tadeu Coehlo, Loren Lind, David Cramer, Deborah Egekvist, and Susan Royal, and I studied Music Theory with Walter Hartley. I have performed in masterclasses with Thomas Nyfenger, Robert Dick, Gary Schocker, Carol Wincenc, and others.
Local performance highlights include Palace Theatre, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Proctors Theatre, and Troy Music Hall. Nationally, I have performed at Lincoln Center, the Pine Mountain Music Festival, the Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair, and on National Public Radio.
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Today, I am back in the great state of New York with my Great Pyrenees, Poppy. Currently, I am a teacher assistant in the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School DIstrict. I perform as a flutist with Albany Pro Musica, Octavo Singers, and Saratoga Voices.
I am also the President of the Scotia-Glenville Friends of Music, a board member with the Freedom Park Foundation, and in 2022, was elected to a three-year term with the Scotia-Glenville Board of Education.
In my spare time, I love to crochet. I am also an amateur spinner of fiber.
Empire State Youth Orchestra, 1985
Opus Four Flute Quartet, 2000
With Poppy, 2022