2008 Trevor Wye Seminar
Come to an intensive, fun and inspiring week-long class presented by masters Trevor Wye and Mary Jo Gothmann. These artists have created a unique masterclass experience by offering a wide variety of learning opportunities each day including group warm-ups with improvisation, transposition and stimulating practice routines, a studies class which addresses the building blocks of music, and repertoire classes that emphasize the collaborative nature of flute and piano repertoire. The class includes daily informal performances by the artists, and ends with a student recital in which all performers may participate. You will find yourself greatly enriched by the joy that emanates from these artists while playing and teaching music! Cosponsored by the WVU Flute Club and West Virginia University’s Division of Music.
Trevor Wye studied the flute privately both with Geoffrey Gilbert and the celebrated Marcel Moyse. He was a freelance orchestral and chamber music player on the London scene for many years and has made several solo recordings, notably on his specialist instrument, the flute d'amour, which he reintroduced in modern times. His formative years were influenced by many players and singers, particularly Alfred Deller and William Bennett.
He was formerly a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music, London and for 21 years at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
Trevor Wye is the author the famous Practice Books for the flute, which have received world wide acclaim and have been translated into ten other languages. More recently, his highly praised biography of Marcel Moyse was published in English and in four other languages. Currently, he is working on an encyclopedia of the flute.
During the year, he teaches at his Studio in Kent, a residential course for postgraduate students, and travels throughout the world giving concerts and master classes including annual appearances in the USA, Switzerland and Japan. He enjoys serving on juries for international competitions, and giving recitals which includes presenting his unique "flutes fantastic!", an hilarious recital with commentary, in which he plays on more than fifty different flutes.
He collects antique spectacles on which he sometimes lectures, and in 1990, he won the annual Quiz on the subject of the Mapp and Lucia novels, awarded by the E.F. Benson Society. He spends what other spare time he has on astronomy on which he also talks. Founder of the British Flute Society, he was also founder and director of International Summer School, from 1969-1988, the biggest flute summer camp in the world. In 1990 he was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music.
Trevor Wye is in high demand all over the world as both a performer and teacher. His charming sense of humor, combined with his musical knowledge and integrity, make his classes not only fun but also highly enlightening for both performer and auditor alike.
Pianist Mary Jo Gothmann is a fabulous musician and a wonderful teacher. In addition to her in-depth knowledge of flute and piano repertoire, Mary Jo has worked for some of the most prestigious opera companies in the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera and the Santa Fe Opera. She has performed recitals with singers from the Met as well as with instrumentalists from most of the country’s major symphony orchestras. She has performed with EOS Orchestra in New York City, the Taos Chamber Music Group, and as piano soloist in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. She currently works with talented young singers at The Minnesota Opera, plays chamber music with friends from the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra. She earned a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano from the University of Minnesota, a Master of Music in piano performance from the New England Conservatory.
Francesca Arnone is Assistant Professor of Flute at West Virginia University. She directs the WVU Flute Choir and is a member of the Laureate Wind Quintet. She holds flute performance degrees from Oberlin,the San Francisco Conservatory, and the Univ. of Miami. Her primary teachers include Robert Willoughby, Julia Bogorad, Tim Day, Christine Nield, and Sandra Church. Piccoloist of the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra since 1997, her former positions include Principal Flute of the Boise Philharmonic, Piccolo with the Southwest Florida Symphony, and Co-Principal and Piccolo of the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Guanajuato (Mexico). She has performed with the Florida Philharmonic, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Missouri Chamber Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (Spain), among others. She has been both a flute and piccolo concerto soloist in the US and Mexico. While at the San Francisco Conservatory, she had the privilege of being a year-long participant in Bobby McFerrin’s “Creativity 101” Class. As the seminar’s associate teacher, Dr. Arnone will be running a slightly slower-paced morning warm-up class as well as offering private lessons.
Laura Dwyer is both an accomplished flutist and music educator and has extensive performing and teaching experience. She recently joined the faculty of the First Coast Community Music School where she teaches flute, chamber music, and yoga. Laura currently serves as principal flute of the Sarasota Opera and second flute/piccolo with the Santa Fe Symphony. She has also performed with the Santa Fe Opera, the Palm Beach Opera, The Charleston Symphony, Opera Southwest, Florida West Coast Symphony, and the NMSO. A certified yoga instructor, Laura is currently leading masterclasses for musicians geared toward managing performance anxiety through increased body and breath awareness through a program she has developed herself, entitled “Yoga for Flutists”. She also teaches yoga at an addiction facility for young women.
Yoga for Flutists is an exciting new program developed by Kripalu certified Yoga teacher and professional flutist Laura Dwyer. It is designed to help flutists overcome common problems and discover their musical potential. Benefits of this program include increased body awareness, increased kinesthetic learning capacity and retention and increased focus in both practice and performance. This program will also help to remove blocks to creativity and expression, prevent and reverse injury and work to ease performance anxiety.
Using postures and breathing gleaned from several Yoga traditions, combined with specially modified exercises from the work of Moshe Feldenkreis and Joseph Pilates, students will leave the course with a series of Yoga postures specially designed for flutists and a short series of exercises to be performed before both practice and performance. Designed for flutists by a flutist, this program is a breakthrough!
