The Texas Flute Society is proud to present our 2014 Guest Artists
Jean Ferrandis, Lisa Garner Santa, John Thorne, Brittney Balkcom

 

French soloist and conductor Jean Ferrandis enjoys an international career that takes him throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. He has presented recitals, performed chamber music, and appeared as soloist with orchestra in such prestigious concert halls as the Salle Pleyel and Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Tapei Arts Center, Wigmore Hall in London, La Fenice in Venice, Hamarikyu Hall in Tokyo, the Vigado in Budapest, the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, and the Moscow Tschaikovsky Conservatory, under such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Tibor Varga, Laurent Petitgirard, and Yoram David. He has been invited to numerous festivals, including the Lanaudière in Canada, Switzerland’s Sion Festival, the Budapest Spring Festival, the Midem Festival in Cannes, and the Berlioz Festival in Lyon. Chamber music collaborators have included Gidon Kremer, Ivry Gitlis, Jean Philippe Collard, and Emile Naoumoff. His appearances at the 2006 National Flute Association convention in Pittsburgh, an event attended by three thousand flutists, included a gala headliner concert in Heinz Hall and a master class. In addition to his performing career, Mr. Ferrandis serves as professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and at California State University, Fullerton. He regularly presents master classes in Japan (Toho University), the United States (Juilliard School, Rice University etc…), Europe (Royal College of London, Moscow Conservatoire etc…), Australia, Taiwan, and Korea, and has also appeared in South Africa. As a conductor he leads the Saint Petersburg Camerata in Russia and in Vilnius (Lithuania) the Saint Christopher Chamber Orchestra, with which he has recorded flute concertos of C. P. E. Bach. Other compact discs include Mozart’s complete flute concertos (with Marie-Pierre Langlamet, solo harpist of the Berlin Philharmonic), works of Honegger and d’Indy, Schubert’s sonatinas and the “Arpeggione” sonata, and a two-disc set of works for flute by Yuko Uebayashi. Jean Ferrandis unanimously received his first prize from the Lyon Conservatoire, where he studied with Maxence Larrieu. A prize winner at such international competitions as Munich, Maria Canals in Barcelona, and Young Concert Artists in New York, he was awarded the grand prize at the 1986 Prague Spring Festival International Flute Competition. Leonard Bernstein was so impressed by his performance of the adagio from Mozart’s D major concerto that he remarked “It is Pan himself!” and subsequently composed a cadenza for Mr. Ferrandis. For more information about Jean, click here. To listen to recordings by Jean, click here.

Lisa Garner Santa currently serves as Artist-Performer and Associate Professor of Flute at Texas Tech University where she enjoys a diverse career as teacher, recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician. Performance highlights include the world premiere of Mike Mower’s Concerto for Flute and Wind Ensemble and a Carnegie Hall debut recital featuring Chamber Works for Flute. Rêver en Couleurs (Dreaming in Color): French Music for Solo Flute and Piano, presented in collaboration with Gabriel Sanchez, is her most recent CD release on MSR Classics. As an active member of the National Flute Association, Dr. Garner Santa has been a featured performer at the Boston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas, Nashville, and Kansas City conventions. She has served as adjudicator and/or coordinator for many NFA events and competitions including the High School Soloist Competition, the NFA Newly Published Music Competition, the NFA Professional Flute Choir Competition, as the General Competitions Coordinator,and as NFA Convention Associate Program Chair for the 2002 convention. She recently served the NFA as Program Chair for the 2011 convention held in Charlotte, NC, August 11-14. Lisa Garner Santa’s versatile programming ranges from the elegant Baroque music of Bach to the jazz-inspired writings of Mike Mower. As a pedagogue, Lisa Garner Santa presents masterclasses throughout the United States and abroad. Recent international exchanges include masterclasses at the Royal College of Music in London, England and Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. Her research and pedagogical articles are frequently published in The Flutist Quarterly, Flute Talk, and The Instrumentalist. With co-authors Matthew Santa and Thomas Hughes, Lisa Garner Santa developed the Flute/Theory Workout, a method that efficiently introduces full-range scalar and chordal flute technique while introducing music theory fundamentals at the same time. Dr. Garner Santa holds performance degrees from West Texas State University, Florida State University, and The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Her teachers to whom she is eternally grateful include Carol Wincenc, Charles DeLaney, Sally Turk, and Helen Blackburn. In addition to her active role as a flutist, Lisa Garner Santa is also a certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor and member of the Yoga Alliance. She teaches Yoga for Musicians at the TTU School of Music and Kripalu Yoga classes at various locations throughout Lubbock. For more information and to listen to recordings by Lisa, click here.

John Thorne is an associate professor of flute at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Previously, Professor Thorne held the position of associate principal flute with the Houston Symphony from 1992 until 2012. He has also held the position of principal flute with the San Antonio Symphony and the Florida West Coast Symphony (now called the Sarasota Orchestra). He started his career as a member of the inaugural season of the New World Symphony, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Professor Thorne has appeared as a soloist with the Houston Symphony on numerous occasions, performing concertos by C.P.E. Bach and Vivaldi. As part of a concert featuring the Associate Principal winds of the Houston Symphony, he performed Frank Martin’s Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments. Most recently, he appeared with the orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s Halil. As a chamber musician, Professor Thorne has performed with DaCamera of Houston in works by Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, John Cage and Steven Stucky. He has also performed with the Greenbriar Consortium (a chamber music group organized by Houston Symphony members), the Texas Music Festival, and the Florida Wind Quintet. He has been a frequent recitalist in the Houston area, performing with Scott Holshouser, principal keyboardist of the Houston Symphony. During the summers, Professor Thorne is a regular member of the Grand Teton Music Festival, performing both orchestral as well as chamber music concerts. He has also taken part in that festival’s winter chamber music series involving concerts in the local schools as well as concerts at Walk Festival Hall. In Houston, he has been a member of the Texas Music Festival faculty and has performed as part of their series at the University of Houston as well as Texas A&M University in College Station. Professor Thorne has studied with Julius Baker, former principal flute of the New York Philharmonic; John Krell, former piccolo player of the Philadelphia Orchestra; and Anne Diener Zentner, former principal flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. For more information about John, click here. To listen to a recording of Joel Puckett’s “The Shadow of Sirius” click here. To listen to a recording of Aaron Copland’s “Duo for Flute and Piano”, click here.

Flutist Brittney Balkcom is an emerging artist known for her “wonderful control,” “terrific energy,” “beautiful, spinning sound” and “sensitive musicianship” with “marvelous potential.” She is the First Prize winner of the 2013 Myrna W. Brown Artist Competition, and is honored to be returning as a guest artist at the 2014 Texas Flute Festival. Brittney has also won top prizes and awards in the Atlanta Flute Club’s Young Artist competition, the Oklahoma Flute Society’s Collegiate Artist competition, and the Texas Music Teachers Association’s Young Artist Concerto Competition. A Houston native, Brittney currently lives and works in Boston where she performs as Principal Flutist of the Longy Conservatory Orchestra and Longitude New Music Ensemble; recording flutist/piccoloist with the Video Game Orchestra and Boston Chamber Orchestra; co-principal flutist of the New England Repertory Orchestra (NERO); and substitute flutist for the Brookline Symphony Orchestra. She also served as co-principal flutist of the 2012 and 2013 Hot Springs Music Festival orchestras under Maestro Peter Bay of the Austin Symphony. This summer, Brittney will join the Boston Landmarks Orchestra for their newly established “Notes in the Neighborhood” program, which brings music performance and education to children in Boston’s underserved communities. Brittney currently studies with legendary pedagogue Robert Willoughby as a Master of Music candidate at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She is a 2011 graduate of the University of North Texas, earning her undergraduate degree under the instruction of Terri Sundberg as a recipient of the UNT Wind and Percussion Scholarship, the Nicholas D. and Ann G. Ricco Excellence in Music Scholarship, and the Mary Lou Finley and Dan Emenheiser GLBTA Scholarship. In addition to her principal teachers, Brittney has studied with Elizabeth McNutt and Sydney Carlson, and has had the privilege of performing in master classes with Jill Felber, Marco Granados, Christina Jennings, Rhian Kenny, Gary Schocker, Harvey Sollberger, Jessica Warren-Acosta, and Carol Wincenc. She can be heard on the Klavier and Naxos labels as a member of various UNT ensembles, as well as on the Square Enix label for the original soundtrack from Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns, which is scheduled for release in February 2014. For more information about Brittney, click here. To listen to recordings by Brittney, click here.