Creativity Intensive
Featured Artists
& Guests
Shanna Pranaitis
Artistic Director
FluteXpansions Co-Founder
Flutist Shanna Pranaitis fearlessly expands the realm of sonic possibility for her instruments through innovative performances and educational projects, in which she integrates new and historically reimagined works with multi-disciplinary elements to create seamless, immersive concert experiences. She is interested in exploring ways to engage and involve a wider community in the process of experiencing music. An important part of this work is the close cooperation with living composers, poets, movement artists, and other interdisciplinary artists, around the world on the development of new work.
​
She regularly performs and teaches as a solo guest artist and with the chamber ensembles Memoria Nova (Andrew Rosenblum, piano) and Collect/Project, and as a guest artist around the world. She has received numerous accolades for her performances including, prizes at the Stockhausen Courses, the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, and New Music USA project grants. She was previously a founding member of Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente, with whom she received the 2012 Kranichstein Prize for Interpretation. In 2017, she co-curated and co-organized the first multi-day festival of Galina Ustvolskaya’s music in the United States.
​
She is the artistic director and co-founder of FluteXpansions, the first comprehensive e-learning platform and laboratory for composers and performers to explore contemporary flute music and techniques. Her recent debut solo CD of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf’s works for flute (NEOS) has been hailed as “remarkable” and a “virtuoso testimony.” She performs on a Burkart flute and piccolo and Kingma bass and alto flutes.
Jade Simmons
Pianist and CEO of Jade Media Global
Named one of the best keynote speakers of 2019, 2020, and 2021, Jade Simmons is a creator of transformational experiences designed to activate audiences into becoming the biggest, boldest versions of themselves possible. The world-class concert artist has been called a “musical force of nature” with an “uncanny ability to connect with the sounds of today.” Jade is CEO of Jade Media global, a revolutionary live experience and global content distribution company specializing in 360 degree personal development and strategic transformation.
Following an artistic epiphany, she pivoted from playing the piano to impress audiences, to using music as the vehicle by which to provide the inspiration, entertainment, and transformation that profoundly moves them instead.
Nicknamed “Classical Music’s #1 Maverick,” her electrifying, genre-bending concert adventures span Rachmaninoff all the way to rap and include virtuoso storytelling, uncommon insights, aand boundless inspiration.
Today, Jade’s experiences not only delight concert audiences, but her dazzling, high-impact presentation are fast becoming the go-to fuel for the world’s superlative brands and organizations from financial services, biotech, entertainment, education, energy and beyond. The likes of Dell, Raytheon, NBC Universal, Pfizer, Intuit Quickbooks,Nationwide, Hershey’s and the Royal Bank of Canada are bringing Jade to power up their people.
In her inimitable career as a concert pianist, Jade has remained committed to expanding the boundaries of Classical music. Simmons has toured the US extensively in recital and with orchestra highlighted by performances as wide-ranging as Ravinia, the Chicago Sinfonietta in Symphony Hall, New York’s Town Hall, Detroit Institute for the Arts, and the halls of the WHite House. She has been named one of the Best of South By Southwest and has also received the Sphinx Organization’s Medal of Excellence in a concert held at the US Supreme Court.
Camilla Hoitenga
Featured Artist
A 1981 winner of the Dutch Gaudeamus Prize for Interpreters, American flutist Camilla Hoitenga entered the European scene as one of the collaborators of legendary composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Soon after began her long-standing collaboration with Kaija Saariaho, which has resulted not only in enriched repertoire for flute and award-winning recordings but also in featured piccolo- and bass- flute parts in the opera Only the Sound Remains, staged in Amsterdam, Helsinki, Paris, Madrid and New York, and, upcoming, in Tokyo, Venice and Barcelona.
Additional collaborations with both composers and performers have recently inspired a new concerto by Alex Nante, as well as music by Christophe de Coudenhove, Maija Hynninen, Peter Koeszeghy , Anne LeBaron, Lei Liang, and Ton-That Tiet written expressly for her ensembles FLUTE/KANTELE (with Eija Kankaanranta), TRIO ARIEL (with Anne-May Krüger, mezzo soprano and Héloise Dautry, harp) and
WAVE DASH~ (with percussionist Magdalena Meitzner).
​
Also enthusiastic about art and improvisation, Camilla Hoitenga is often invited by visual artists, art galleries and museums for her own music or for interdisciplinary projects, most recently by Jean-Baptiste Barrière for his New York production of The Art of Change Opera.
​
Camilla's flute teachers include Alexander Murray, Peter Lloyd and Marcel Moyse, her degrees are from Calvin College (B.A.) and University of Illinois (M.Mus., D.M.A.). Camilla Hoitenga is a Burkart European Artist Ambassador and an Altus Artist.
%20copy.jpg)
Photo credit: Keke Keukelaar
Anne La Berge
Featured Artist
Anne La Berge's passion for the extremes in both composed and improvised music has led her to the fringes of storytelling and sound art as her sources of musical inspiration.
Her main flute teachers were Mary Roberts Wilson, Walfrid Kujala at Northwestern University, Frank Bowen at the University of New Mexico and Alexander Murray at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
She plays Kingma System flutes and uses the Kyma System for her electronic instrument.
She performs regularly as soloist, with the ensemble MAZE. She is a founding artist of Splendor Amsterdam, a collective of musicians, who have transformed an old bathhouse in Amsterdam into a cultural mecca, where she regularly produces and shares small scale concerts with international guests.
Anne La Berge works regularly as an improvisation and live electronics coach worldwide in the context of residencies and private coaching and teaches in the composition and sonology faculties of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.
She can be heard on the Largo, Artifact, Etcetera, Hat Art, Frog Peak, Einstein, X-OR, Unsounds, Canal Street, Rambo, esc.rec., Intackt, Data, verz, Real Music House, Relative Pitch, Carrier and Splendor Amsterdam labels which include recordings with Ensemble Modern, United Noise Toys, Fonville/La Berge, Rasp/Hasp, Bievre/La Berge, Apricot My Lady, Big Zoom, Corkestra, Joe Williamson, MAZE, Phil Maguire, Ted Moore, Ig Henneman, Jaimie Branch and her family.
Her music is published by Frog Peak Music, Alry Publications and Donemus; and many of her Max patch based compositions are available as Apps from her privately. She is the Managing Director of the Volsap Foundation that produces innovative music projects.
Eric Lamb
Featured Artist
Flutist Eric Lamb is in demand internationally as a concerto soloist, recording artist, recitalist, concert curator and chamber musician. Eric is Lecturer of Flute Performance and Head of Woodwind, Brass and Percussion at the International Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. Before this appointment, he held a two-year position as Lecturer of Music at the University of Auckland School of Music in New Zealand where he taught both chamber music and flute.
​
A student of Michel Debost and Kathleen Chastain at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he completed his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt, Germany with Thaddeus Watson (Orchestral and Concert Soloist Diplomas) and later at the Sculoa di Musica di Fiesole with Chiara Tonelli.
​
Formerly a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), he is presently member of both Ensemble Reconsil, Quasars Ensemble and guest principal flutist in orchestras and ensembles throughout Europe.
%20Andrej%20Grilc-05500.jpg)
Photo credit: Andrej Grilc
Photo credit: Reuban Radding
Jane Rigler
Featured Artist
Jane Rigler began her speciality in flute performance at Northwestern University (B.M. 1988) and developed her work further in experimental music at UCSD (M.M. 1991, Ph.D. 1996). Her international career performing edgy, complicated compositions as well as becoming a professional improviser started while living in Spain. In New York she deepened her compositional work with electronics and performed as a guest artist with established contemporary ensembles (Either/Or, Wet Ink, etc.). She continues to be a featured soloist in many international electronic music festivals (CubeFest, SEAMUS, NYCEMF, SIGGRAPH, NIME, etc.).
Her compositions play with movement, space, languages, ancestral songs, game techniques and invite all to imagine and improvise. As a certified Deep Listening© facilitator she offers inclusive listening experiences throughout the world. Jane thrives at artist residencies like Civitella Ranieri, Montalvo, Ucross, Hambidge, and Harvestworks that promote her collaborative nature. Thanks to the US-Japan Friendship Creative Artist Fellowship (2009-2013), Jane studied Noh theatre, Aikido, and performed over twenty concerts in Japan. In 2016 she toured in Italy, France, Germany, Finland and Spain offering workshops and interactive concerts with a NewMusic USA grant. In 2019-20 she explored Ireland on a Fulbright Award where she studied Irish (Gaeilge), Sean-nós and ancient Ogham scripts for a series of new compositions based on the stones, ancient trees and landscapes. Jane appears on various labels such as Neuma, Tzadik, Porter, DewDrop, Sachimay. An Associate Professor at the University of Colorado (UCCS) she teaches flute, Sound Art, listening, computer music, composition and improvisation.
Photo credit: Betty Fleck
Melody Chua
Featured Artist
Melody Chua is considered a pioneering force her generation in the development of interdisciplinary performances with new technologies. Her portfolio includes works with 360° touchscreens, 360° videos, Ambisonics, motion capture systems, live-coding, pressure-sensitive shoes, real-time projection visuals, and sensor-augmented instruments, while at the same time reflecting critically on the multifaceted issues surrounding human-machine interactions. Her current research at the Zürich University of the Arts focuses on the development of an improvisation machine (AIYA) that takes inputs from a sensor-augmented flute (Chaosflöte), and she examines the human-machine relationships, shifting posthuman identities, and forms of agency that manifest within performances with this machine. Melody is the co-founder and co-executive director of Null-state, a non-profit organization and performance ensemble committed to advancing the development of sensor-augmented instruments, live coding, and electroacoustic music education.
Awarded a Fulbright-Swiss Government Excellence grant for the development of the Chaosflöte, Melody has performed and presented at various festivals such as the Zürich Digital Festival, Zürich Design Biennale, ZKM Next Generation Festival, Geneva International Film Festival, Network Music Festival, La Côte Flute Festival, Swiss Digital Day, PAM-Hörmal Festival, Performing Media Festival, Immerse: Creative City Project, and the USF New Music Festival, in addition to engagements at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology Zürich (artist residency), Immersive Arts Space Zürich (diploma residency), University of South Florida (artist residency), Atlantic Festival Future Music Lab (fellowship), Montreal Contemporary Music Lab (performer), Kein Museum (solo installation exhibition), and the Timucua Arts Foundation (artist residency), among others. As an educator, Melody has given lectures on electroacoustic music, improvisation, and interactive music programming at institutions such as the Zurich University of the Arts, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida, Wayne State University, The Melrose Center, and the Atlantic Music Festival.
Hilary Abigana
Featured Artist
Hilary Abigana is a founding member and flutist for the hybrid arts ensemble, The Fourth Wall. Praised by The Wall Street Journal for their “deft choreography,” The Fourth Wall’s mission is to create programming that engages everyone from elementary school children to classical performance connoisseurs through a new hybrid of the performing arts in which musicians are also actors and dancers. In a theater, breaking the fourth wall brings the world on stage directly into the audience; as an ensemble, The Fourth Wall, breaks the barrier between serious art and serious fun.
Hilary was the winner of the 2003 Eastman Nielsen Flute Concerto Competition, performing with the Eastman Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra in a gala concert honoring Professor Emeritus, Joseph Mariano. She was also the winner of the 2008 Houston Flute Club’s Byron Hester Young Artist Competition, a silver medalist at the 2008 Fischoff Competition, and a silver medalist at the 2014 Midwest Fleadh Cheoil Over 18 Céilí Band Competition.
Passionate about teaching, Hilary has been on faculty at Floot Fire Dallas, the International Flute Symposium, the Irish Arts Academy of Indianapolis, taught masterclasses across the country with The Fourth Wall, and has been the Guest Artist at numerous universities and flute societies. Most recently, she was the Guest Artist for the Oklahoma Flute Society, presenting a digital recital that included Alexandra Gardner’s Fade for Flute and Electronics which she also premiered at the 2019 National Flute Association Convention.
Hilary is a proud Verne Q. Powell Flutes Artist.
Carla Rees
Featured Artist
Carla Rees is a British low flutes player, composer and arranger, working to raise the profile of her instruments through research, performance and collaboration. Her career incorporates solo and chamber music performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and recordings, including a discography of over 20 CDs. She has premiered several hundred works for low flutes, many of which are now published by her company Tetractys Publishing and is currently working on a project to create contemporary repertoire for baroque flute.
She has nearly 90 published arrangements and compositions, including her 2016 work for solo piccolo, Nightsong, which has
been performed in the UK, France, Germany, Poland, USA and Canada and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. She is Artistic Director of the contemporary chamber music ensemble rarescale, with whom she has performed in the UK and internationally and appeared on BBC Radio 3, and Director of its associated ensemble, rarescale Flute Academy. She has a PhD from the Royal College of Music in London.
She became the first Professor of Low Flutes and Contemporary Flute at the Royal Academy of Music in September 2021, teaches the flute at Royal Holloway University of London and is Music Programme Leader for the Open College of Arts where she designed and now runs an innovative online music degree course.
She has taught masterclasses and workshops for flute players and composers at some of the world’s leading institutions, including the Juilliard School in New York and USC in Los Angeles. Recent performances include in Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Japan and Brazil, as well as at Café Oto, Iklectik and the Coronet Theatre in London, and the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast.
During the pandemic she has been working on telematic improvisation systems and has given a number of transatlantic performances streamed on YouTube. Carla plays Kingma System flutes, made for her by Eva Kingma, Bickford Brannen and Lev
Levit. She is Editor of the British Flute Society’s magazine, PAN, and Chair of the New Music Advisory committee for the National Flute Association of America.
Photo credit: Andrej Grilc
Guest Artist Bios
Renata
Kambarova
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Renata Kambarova was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Renata is a member of different ensembles of classical and contemporary music, and she is also developing projects including improvisation, electronics and visuals. She has recorded several albums of experimental, classical chamber music and contemporary chamber music.
Leading an active and promising international career, she has internationally performed with different ensembles and orchestras and has played in many international festivals, such as Biennale de Venezia, reMuisk in Saint Petersburg, or Ars Musica in Brussels.
She is currently a doctoral program in artistic research in Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz, Austria, researching the subject of intercultural musicking between Belgium and Uzbekistan. In parallel, she is working on electronic and video immersive environments.
Meerenai Shim
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Translated in Korean as “Milky Way” or “Galaxy”, the artistic career of Meerenai Shim (pronounced “ME-ren-ey”, like they) is appropriately expansive and all-encompassing. A flutist with a new music focus, she promotes contemporary work through myriad channels, including as a solo performer, her chamber ensembles, her record label, and her own discography of three albums, all of which have been warmly reviewed.
Ms. Shim has performance credits across the United States, including within the Soundwave Biennial in San Francisco, the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, the National Flute Association’s annual Conventions, and numerous universities. Her impact across new music manifests in part from her two chamber ensembles: she is involved as a founding member of the innovative flute and percussion duo, A/B Duo (2013) and joined contemporary flute trio Areon Flutes in 2016.
Meerenai Shim holds degrees from San Francisco State University (M.M.) and DePaul University (B.M.), and is a fiscally-sponsored affiliate of InterMusic SF, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to small-ensemble music in the San Francisco Bay Area. Outside of performance, she founded the independent record label Aerocade Music in 2015, which has released one dozen albums to date of contemporary classical, electronic, and experimental music from the West Coast. Meerenai is also a Guild Certified Feldenkrais PractitionerCM and has been a movement coach for musicians since 2012. She makes her home in Silicon Valley with her husband Dave and their Great Dane mix, Lady.
Dr. Gillian
Morrissey
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Dr. Gillian Morrissey is the Manager (Acting) of the Centre for Social Enterprise at Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she is responsible for guiding the fulfillment of the Centre’s mandate to cultivate a new generation of socially-minded business leaders, strengthen social enterprise and drive social innovation in the province. Dr. Morrissey has previously worked with Memorial’s MBA in Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, and is a social entrepreneur in her own right, having founded and managed two community music ventures: Project Grace and The Bethany Centre for Arts and Community.
As a professional flutist, Dr. Morrissey has performed in concert halls around the world, and maintains a private studio of flute students in St. John’s NL. Research interests include contemporary music practices, and the intersection of community music-making and social innovation. Dr. Morrissey holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Toronto and is a sessional lecturer in both the Faculty of Business Administration and School of Music at Memorial University.
Rodrigo
Frade
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Rodrigo Frade is a PhD student in Sonology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He holds a Master's Degree in Musical Performance (2018) and a Bachelor's Degree in Flute (2014) from the same institution. Rodrigo started his musical studies at age 7 at the Conservatory of São João del Rei, MG, Brazil.
Kathleen
Weidenfeller
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
After finishing my Bachelor’s in flute performance with John Wion. I came to Finland ‘for a year’, to study with Liisa Ruoho, ended up staying a lot longer, and working with a lot of fabulous flutists and musicians. I’m presently finishing up a Doctoral project at the Sibelius Academy, involving creating improvisational rehearsal techniques for a returning adult flute ensemble.
New ways of addressing old problems, new sounds, and new ideas energize me. I love to watch a student’s eyes light up when they discover how to perform the passage they’ve struggled with, or to watch an ensemble come together as a community. Using improvisation as a teaching tool allows me to create spaces where students can discover new ways to develop technical, musical and ensemble skills. I’m a storyteller at heart, so sharing stories, and listening to my student’s stories are at the center of my teaching.
Jacob
LaBarge
Matthias Zielger
Guest Speaker,
Career Panel
Matthias Ziegler is one of the world’s most versatile and innovative flutists. He is committed both to the traditional literature for flute as well as to contemporary music and concepts that cross the boundaries between classical music and jazz.
​
Accordingly, his performances take place in a vast range of contexts: he plays principal flute with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, has toured with the percussionist Pierre Favre and performed with the pianist George Gruntz as well as with the American contrabass player Mark Dresser. He is also a member of the ”Collegium Novum Zurich“, where he has worked with Mauricio Kagel, Heinz Holliger and George Crumb.
​
Amplifying the flute allows him to increase the volume of the microsound structures of the flute to an audible level. Inspired by the new dimension of sounds of these instruments, composers such as Michael Jarrell from Switzerland, Benjamin Yusupov from Tadjikistan, Mathias Rüegg from the Vienna Art Orchestra and the American Mark Dresser wrote flute concertos for him.
Dustin
White
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Morgann Davis
Guest Artist &
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Nandin
Baker
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Born in Canada but based in Europe, my life has been mapped out by my love of music. Flute in hand, my intuition led me time and again to meditative music in many forms – from calm and soothing to wild and crazy and with all kinds of musicians; Classical, Folk, Latin, Italian, New Age, Persian, Indian, Brazilian - I love to meet others in their musical world especially when it includes meditation!
​
Playing music meditatively brings us to our center. We express our essence with every breath we send through our instrument. Using meditative techniques specifically adapted for flutists, I lead you into a rich inner world where we are deeply touched by music.
​
Meditative music is nourishment for the spirit, a portal to our innermost being and a wake-up call for all those who are searching for authentic self-expression.
​
​
Shannon
Lewis
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Originally an artist with a paintbrush, Shannon Lewis made her a decision at a young age when she decided to instead pursue an instrument she could not make a sound on. This put Shannon onto a new path, and transformed her into a dedicated musical artist. Shannon is currently based in London, Ontario, Canada. An advocate for contemporary music, Shannon is always exploring ways to push the boundaries of the flute, and is committed to bringing new and exciting repertoire to audiences while on a quest to make music accessible. Shannon has a special interest in the integration of music, visuals, and electronics, which led to her multimedia project, colour. Starting off as an idea for a gallery installation, colour grew into an ongoing project of compositions and improvisations integrated with visual art to create multimedia works for flute and electronics based on her exploration and experiences with synaesthesia.
Susan
Geaney
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
I’m interested in creating music that is deeply connected. My music asks performers to immerse themselves in a philosophy that facilitates a deeper listening and awareness to each other, the material, energy and space. Intuitive listening and responding remains the primary focus of my composition and improvisation practice.
Endlessly investigating and re-defining what it is to be an Artist, I set up creative environments where everyone can contribute and perform in their own way.
I believe our creativity holds great insight into uncovering who we truly are. As a Play Therapy Practitioner, I use the therapeutic capabilities of the Arts to help people to find deeper levels within themselves. In 2021, I developed Creative Being - an online learning space to facilitate a deeper awareness and connection to our creativity.
Morgann Davis is a freelance flutist, educator and 200hr registered yoga teacher. She operates Davis Flute Studio in Lancaster, PA and enjoys leading musicians in yoga and other concepts of physical and mental wellbeing. She can be heard with ensembles like the Lancaster Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Reading Symphony, Allegro Orchestra, and Endless Mountain Music Festival. Morgann has served on the Career and Artistic Development Committee of the National Flute Association and is the Program Director of Nextgen Youth Music. When she isn’t performing, Morgann enjoys writing about the experiences we have as musicians and hosting events for her students including the annual DFS Flute Day. www.morgannelycedavis.com
Dustin White is particularly interested in the synthesis of new flute music by means of cultural exchange. His debut solo album released in 2021, Ri Ra (Mon Hills Records), explores the intersection of Western contemporary art music and Middle Eastern flute traditions. His principal teachers include Nina Assimakopoulos, Kenneth Andrews, and John Oberbrunner.
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Jacob is a recent graduate of West Virginia Univ. with a B.M. in Flute Performance and a minor in Foreign Literature in Translation. His primary teachers include Nina Assimakopoulos, Wendy Stern and Denise Lozano-Healey. Jacob has attended lessons with flutists: Jasmine Choi, Alberto Almarza, Mimi Stillman, Lindsey Goodman, Shanna Pranaitis, Matthias Ziegler, and Melody Chua. During the summer of 2019, he worked closely with Camilla Hoitenga at the Musiikin Aika Time of Music Summer Academy, in Viitasaari Finland, on the music of Kaija Saariaho and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 2021, Jacob received first prize in the Great Composers: Music of the 20th Century Competition for his performance of IlmakehÓ“stÓ“ by Lotta WennÓ“koski.
​
Guest Artist
'Choose Your Own Adventure' Session
Josefine
Persson
I am a Swedish flutist, teacher, composer and producer who right now is fascinated by the concept of time. As a flutist I strive to be honest and brave, and help my students dare to try new things. I aim to stand for what makes me happy and proudly show the world what makes my heart sing. Hopefully I can inspire others to shine as well. I am interested in helping people discover their creativity and build communities where this is possible.
I was a participant at the first Sonic Immersion Summer Course in 2021, where I developed my pieces “The Mouth Piece” (an ensemble piece for different head joints of various flutes) and “Try again Later” (a solo looping piece with visuals for flute and phone sounds in Ableton). I later performed both pieces at my final recital concert at Ingesund School of music, where I am studying the music teaching program with flute and music production as my main subjects. As I graduate this summer I am very curious and excited to discover where and how I will continue to work with my passion in music.
​