Eleventh Annual University of Virginia Flute Forum

The Department of Music is pleased to present the eleventh annual University of Virginia Flute Forum on Saturday, October 17, 2026. The UVA Flute Forum is a day-long flute festival which features masterclasses, interactive workshops, and recitals. All events are free and open to the public, and attendees are encouraged to bring their flutes to participate in a community flute choir performance at the gala recital!  This is an Arts Enhancement Event supported by the Office of the Provost & the Vice Provost for the Arts.

This year's Forum will feature flutist Alexa Still alongside additional guest artists Andrea Gutierrez, Sarah Haines, Sarah Handley, Amrutha Koteeswaran, and Gina Sobel.

Alexa Still’s recital will take place at 3:30pm in Old Cabell Hall.  More information.

Although all events are free and open to the public, participants are encouraged to register in advance for the UVA Flute Forum.

Registration for the Flute Forum can be found here.

For more information, please contact Kelly Sulick at kas6am@virginia.edu.

The UVA Flute Forum Competition

The UVA Flute Forum Collegiate Competition is a free competition open to any undergraduate student currently enrolled at a college or university who is taking applied flute lessons (entrants do not need to be music majors, but must be enrolled in collegiate flute lessons at the time of the competition). Up to three winners will be selected to perform in a masterclass for Alexa Still at the eleventh annual University of Virginia Flute Forum on Saturday, October 17, 2026 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Those interested in entering should submit a recording of the piece they would like to perform in the masterclass. Pieces written for flute and piano should be recorded with piano accompaniment (SmartMusic or other pre-recorded accompaniment is acceptable for the recorded round only). Winners are responsible for bringing their own pianists to the masterclass.

To enter, please submit an unedited audio recording as a file attachment (or a link to an online posting of the audio recording), to UVAFluteForum@gmail.com. Video recordings will not be accepted. Include your name, email address, telephone number, name of your current flute instructor, and title of your repertoire selection. Previous winners are eligible to enter the competition.

Entries are due by 11:59 pm on Monday, September 28, 2026. Winners will be announced by October 9, 2026.

Questions may be sent to UVAFluteForum@gmail.com. Good luck!

Biographies

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Alexa Still 
Originally from New Zealand, Alexa Still first gained international recognition while pursuing graduate studies in the United States, winning both the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition and the East and West Artists Competition. At just 23 years old, while completing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at SUNY Stony Brook, she was appointed Principal Flute of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Her distinguished career has included solo performances with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Colorado Music Festival, the Albany Symphony, the Long Island Philharmonic, the Simón Bolívar Orchestra, the Istanbul Chamber Orchestra, orchestras throughout New Zealand, the Takács Quartet, and the acclaimed percussion ensemble Nexus. She was awarded the 2024 American Prize in Instrumental Performance in recognition of her exceptional artistry.

Still joined the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory in 2011, where she has received both the Award for Teaching Excellence and the NEA Professorship. A recipient of the Churchill Fellowship and a Fulbright Award, she is equally respected as a performer, teacher, and advocate for flute pedagogy. She is also a past president of the National Flute Association and has contributed articles to flute publications throughout the world.

Her discography includes more than twenty critically acclaimed recordings, featuring both standard repertoire and numerous world premieres. Recent releases include Finding Home, featuring Michael Fine's Concierto del Luna with Ensemble Bravura and guitarist Jason Vieaux, and WISH (2023), a collection of five world-premiere recordings featuring music by Valerie Coleman with pianist Evan Hines and spoken word by Carmen Twillie Ambar.

Of Still's artistry, Fanfare magazine wrote that she "creates a rainbow of colors" with "real, warm, communicative musicality."

When not performing and teaching, Still enjoys motorcycling, spending time in nature, and caring for her elderly rescue dogs.

For more information, visit alexastill.com.

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Andrea Gutierrez
Andrea Gutierrez is a Colombian-American flutist and composer whose current musical research and compositions explore modern representations of South American indigenous and folk music and ecoacoustics. Interested in creating unique electronic and electroacoustic landscapes, she has often experimented with incorporating found sounds, environmental field recordings, improvisation as well as interdisciplinary mediums such as installations, visual art, poetry, and environmental data in her work. As a performer, she frequently collaborates with chamber groups, choirs, and interdisciplinary organizations; recently, she has been featured as a soloist, an instructor, and has premiered works in festivals such as the Silicon Valley Music Festival, Opera en la Calle Festival in Tijuana, Mexico, and the Nief-Norf Festival.

Andrea received her AA in flute performance at Napa Valley College under Jennifer Hunt, her BM in composition at San Jose State University studying with Dr. Christopher Luna-Mega and flutist Dr. Ray Furuta, and is currently pursuing a PhD in the Composition and Computer Technologies program at the University of Virginia.

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Sarah Haines

Based in Richmond, Virginia, Sarah Haines has been the piccolo player for the Fredericksburg Symphony Orchestra since the 2025-26 season. Sarah has made appearances with the Richmond Symphony, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, and Allentown Symphony Orchestra, among others. She has been a prize winner and finalist for young artist competitions hosted by the Raleigh Area Flute Association and Central Ohio Flute Association, and has been awarded fellowships by organizations including The Texas Music Festival and Music for Food. She holds a Master of Music in Flute Performance from New England Conservatory, where she studied with Cynthia Meyers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well a Bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she studied with Brooks de Wetter-Smith.

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Sarah Handley, LMT

A native of the Shenandoah Valley and 1988 graduate of the College of William & Mary, Sarah Handley has worked over twenty-five years as a licensed massage therapist in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Trained in medical massage at the Virginia School of Massage (Winchester) and The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (NY), Sarah is equally comfortable working bedside in a healthcare setting or in practice with healthy clientele. An active enthusiasm for and practice of yoga led Sarah to the study and practice of traditional Thai massage.

Sarah has had the privilege over the years of working with many professional musicians, developing an interest in helping them with muscle and connective tissue pain, tension, and stiffness related to working postures and repetitive movement.

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Amrutha Koteeswaran
 Dr. Amrutha Koteeswaran is a Dallas-based flutist, educator, and arts advocate whose work intentionally bridges performance, teaching, and community engagement. She has appeared as a performer at national conferences and festivals and has received recognition as a soloist in numerous competitions. An active solo, chamber, and orchestral musician, Amrutha is committed to creating meaningful connections between performance, education, and community.

Amrutha holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, a Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Music from Baylor University. Her primary teachers include Dr. Erika Boysen, Marianne Gedigian, and Dr. Charlotte Daniel. She is honored to be recognized as a Haynes Young Artist.

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Gina Sobel
Gina Sobel is a natural improviser. Accomplished on multiple instruments (flute, sax, voice), she radiates energy and excitement in her live performances and is sought after as a soloist with national and international performers. She is an award-winning songwriter and composer; in her own music, Sobel brings together elements of funk, jazz and American folk music.

Sobel is the bandleader of Choose Your Own Adventure, a high-energy funk band featuring a brilliant group of musicians. She is active in genres across the spectrum, ranging from hip hop to bluegrass and everything in between.

Sobel’s improvisation and style are in high demand across a massive range of genres. Over the last couple years, Gina has recorded, collaborated and performed with artists including: Emancipator (down-tempo electronica), Rickie Simpkins (bluegrass), Jeff Coffin (jazz), Parachute (pop), Cory Wong of Vulfpeck (funk), Darryl Davis (boogie woogie), John D’earth (jazz), Flory Jagoda and Susan Gaeta (Sephardic), Dopapod (funk/electronica), Wytold (contemporary chamber music), Time for T (Portuguese tropical pop), and McKinley Dixon (hip hop). Recently, Sobel has played Red Rocks Amphitheater, New Orleans Jazz Fest, The Kennedy Center, 9:30 Club, The Birchmere and the Richmond Folk Festival. In 2018, she completed both the Strathmore Artist in Residence program and the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship. In 2021 she was a songwriting winner of the Emergent Seed grant. She has a number of her own releases, most recently “Redbud”.

This is an Arts Enhancement Event supported by the Office of the Provost & the Vice Provost for the Arts.

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All Forum events are free and open to the public.

Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda. For parking options, please visit our Directions and Parking page.

Stay informed about upcoming performances by subscribing to the weekly UVA Music at UVA email and following @uvamusic  on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

All events and programs are subject to change.

For more information, please contact the UVA Department of Music at  music@virginia.edu.