The 2022 Texas Flute Festival
May 19th-21st, 2022
This festival has concluded!
We had a great time and we hope you did as well!
We hope to see you next year
See this year’s Donna Marie Haire competition winners
See this year’s Myrna W. Brown competition winners
Here are this year’s Solo and Ensemble awards!
2022 T-Shirt Design
We’re no longer accepting T-shirt orders, but don’t fret! A limited selection will be available at our festival!
This Year’s Festival Exhibitors
Our Featured Guest Artists
Valerie Coleman
Valerie Coleman is regarded by many as an iconic artist who continues to pave her own unique path as a composer, GRAMMY®-nominated flutist and entrepreneur. Highlighted as one of the “Top 35 Women Composers” by The Washington Post, she was named Performance Today’s 2020 Classical Woman of the Year and her works have garnered awards such as the MAPFund, ASCAP Honors Award, Chamber Music America’s Classical Commissioning Program and Herb Alpert Ragdale Residency Award. Umoja, Anthem for Unity was chosen by Chamber Music America as one of the “Top 101 Great American Ensemble Works.”
The World Premiere of Coleman’s orchestral arrangement of her work Umoja, commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra and performed in Philadelphia and at Carnegie Hall in 2019 has been proven successful. Her other recent commissions include works for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Library of Congress, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, University of Chicago and University of Michigan. The New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra and significant chamber ensembles across the country have previously performed her pieces.
As a performer, Coleman has appeared at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center, and with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Bravo! Vail. As a chamber musician, Coleman has performed alongside the Dover Quartet, Orion String Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, Ani and Ida Kavafian and Anne-Marie McDermott, along with jazz legends Paquito D’Rivera, Stefon Harris, Jason Moran, Wayne Shorter, and René Marie.
Former flutist of the Imani Winds, Coleman is the creator and founder of this acclaimed ensemble whose 24-year legacy is documented and featured in a dedicated exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Coleman is currently on faculty at the Mannes School of Music.
Coleman’s compositions are published by Theodore Presser and her own company, VColeman Music.
Helen Blackburn
Helen Blackburn is the Artist Teacher of Flute (in the Yvonne Franklin Endowed Chair) at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) in Canyon, TX. Helen is also principal flutist with the Dallas Opera Orchestra and a core member of Dallas’ modern music ensemble, Voices of Change. She performs with her husband (marimba virtuoso, Drew Lang), is a regular “extra” with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and has numerous credits with major performing arts organizations, including the Breckenridge Music Festival (principal flute for 13 years), Aspen Music Festival (piccolo fellow for 4 years), the Brevard Music Center, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra. Ms. Blackburn received her BM (summa cum laude) from West Texas State University and her MM from Northwestern University. Her teachers (to whom she is eternally grateful and indebted) were Brad Garner, Sally Turk, and Walfrid Kujala. Playing flute is her passion; teaching and mentoring flute students is her calling, and she is thrilled to have a life that embraces both equally!
You Yang
You Yang (pronounced as Yoh Yahng) is currently pursuing the Doctoral of Musical Arts degree at University of North Texas (UNT) under the tutelage of Prof. Terri Sundberg. Originally from Shanghai, China, You Yang was born and raised in a family of music lovers. She picked up the flute at the age of 9 for the elementary school band. She has been enjoying performing with the orchestra since she joined the high school orchestra and the Shanghai Youth Philharmonic. The highlights include touring with the orchestra around the USA, France, and Australia. The orchestra experiences made her decide to lead a career as a musician.
As a soloist, she was a semifinalist in the 2021 National Flute Association (NFA) Young Artist
Competition. Before winning the first prize of the 2021 Myrna Brown Flute Competition, she
was a finalist of the James Pappoutsakis Competition, prizewinners for the Philadelphia Flute
Society Young Artist Competition, and the Atlanta Flute Club Young Artist Competition. As an
orchestral player, she is a substitute flutist for the Las Colinas Symphony. She was a substitute
flutist for the New World Symphony 2020-2021 season. She was a full scholarship recipient of
the 2020 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute and an opera orchestra fellow at the
Miami Music Festival. As a teacher, she served as a teaching fellow at UNT where she gave
lessons to undergraduate music major students and coached chamber groups.
You Yang had her bachelor’s degree from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
with summa cum laude where she studied with Prof. Demarre McGill, Amy Taylor, and Dr. Brad
Garner. She received her master’s degree with honor from the New England Conservatory where
she studied with Paula Robison.
Other than playing the flute, she enjoys playing the piano, doing handcrafts, and listening to jazz
music. She hopes to have a chamber group and play exciting music with like-minded musicians.