The Department of Music is pleased to present the tenth annual University of Virginia Flute Forum on Saturday, November 22, 2025. 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 Carol Wincenc alongside additional guest artists Elizabeth Brightbill, Krista Jobson, Elizabeth Lantz, Ethan Lin, and Nicole Mitchell Gantt.
Carol Wincenc’s recital will take place at 3:30pm in Old Cabell Hall. More information at https://music.virginia.edu/carol-wincenc-flute-recital
Schedule of events
Although all events are free and open to the public, participants are encouraged to register in advance for the UVA Flute Forum.
All events take place on Saturday, November 22 and are in Old Cabell Hall (OCH) unless otherwise noted.
The full schedule will be announced when it is available.
Registration for this event 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 Carol Wincenc at the tenth annual University of Virginia Flute Forum on Saturday, November 22, 2025 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, and name of your current flute instructor. Previous winners are eligible to enter the competition.
Entries are due by 11:59 pm on Monday, October 27, 2025. Winners will be announced by November 10, 2025.
Questions may be sent to UVAFluteForum@gmail.com. Good luck!
Biographies
Carol Wincenc
Hailed "Queen of the Flute" (New York Magazine) at the outset of her, now, brilliant 50 year career, flutist CAROL WINCENC was First Prize Winner of the (sole) Walter W. Naumburg Solo Flute Competition, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from the National Flute Association, the National Society of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Music, and Distinguished Alumni Awards from Manhattan School of Music and the Brevard Music Center. During the past two seasons she performed, recorded and gave masterclasses as an exclusive Burkart Flutes Artist in Beijing, Shenyang, Seoul, Warsaw, Prague, Venice, Nice, and Thessoloniki. In North America she performed as soloist and chamber musician from coast to coast, including Seattle, Phoenix, Dallas, Edmonton, Banff, Iowa City, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Tucson, Palm Beach, Sarasota, Philadelphia, Boston and her home city, New York. Recently she recorded an all Uebayashi album with the award winning Escher String Quartet, and video/audios in partnership with her collaborator/pianist Bryan Wagorn of the Metropolitan Opera. Most recently she and Mr. Wagorn performed to a sold out house at Weill Carnegie Hall for the "Naumburg Looks Back" series.
Delighting audiences for over four decades with her signature charismatic, high virtuosity and deeply heartfelt musicality, she has appeared as soloist with such ensembles as the Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Detroit and London Symphonies, the BBC, Warsaw and Buffalo Philharmonics, as well as the Los Angeles, Stuttgart and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras, the latter for which she was Principal and Solo Flute from 1972-77. She has performed in countless festivals such as Mostly Mozart, Aldeburgh, Budapest, Frankfurt, Santa Fe, Spoleto, Music at Menlo, Aspen, Yale/Norfolk, Sarasota, Banff and Marlboro. The muse of today's most prominent composers, Ms. Wincenc has premiered numerous works written for her by legends Christopher Rouse, Henryk Gorecki, Lukas Foss, Jake Heggie, Paul Schoenfeld, Tod Machover, Yuko Uebayashi, Thea Musgrave, Andrea Clearfield, Shi-Hui Chen and Joan Tower. In great demand as a chamber musician, Ms. Wincenc has collaborated with the Emerson, Tokyo, Guarnieri, Cleveland, Juilliard and Escher String Quartets, and performed with Jessye Norman, Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma.
A Grammy nominee, she has recorded for Nonesuch, London/Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Telarc (Diapason D'Or Award), Music Masters (Recording of Special Merit with Andras Schiff) and Naxos (Grammophone Magazine "Pick of the Month with Buffalo Philharmonic). Ms. Wincenc created and directed a series of International Flute Festivals at the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, featuring such diverse artists as Jean-Pierre Rampal, Herbie Mann, Steven Kujala and the American Indian flutist, R. Carlos Nakai. She had the privilege of working directly with legendary music luminaries Aaron Copland, Olivier Messaien, Rudolf Serkin, Joshua Bell, Christophe Eschenbach, Loren Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Philip Glass, Andre Previn, Paul Simon and Judy Collins, to name a few!
She is a member of the New York Woodwind Quintet and a founding member of Les Amies with New York Philharmonic principals Nancy Allen, harpist and Cynthia Phelps, violist. Ms. Wincenc continues more than a quarter of a century on the faculties of The Juilliard School and Stony Brook University having mentored and graduated countless rising, flute stars commanding principal flute positions in major symphony orchestras and university professorships. She is renowned for her popular series of etudes and flute classics, the "Carol Wincenc 21st Century Flute" published by Lauren Keiser/Hal Leonard Music Publishers (available on 'Amazon'). A long time resident of New York City, she is the proud mother of singer/songwriter Nicola Wincenc (Cavernsband.com). Carol Wincenc is a native of Buffalo, NY, and was raised in a deeply active, musical family, along with her two older sisters, and under the mentorship of her violinist father and symphony conductor, Dr. Joseph Wincenc, and pianist mother, Margaret Wincenc. Having concertized on five continents, Ms. Wincenc loves nothing more than "giving back" with her music-making to communities world wide.
Elizabeth Brightbill
Elizabeth Brightbill lives in central Virginia where she performs in the flute and cello duo Terra Voce and teaches students of all ages. Prior to her move to Virginia, she held the position of Principal Flute with the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra for ten years and performed with a number of other orchestras across the country. Performance highlights with Terra Voce include appearances on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage and as a finalist in the National Flute Association Chamber Music Competition. Terra Voce currently performs throughout Virginia as a part of the Virginia Commission for the Arts Performing Arts Touring Program and the ensemble has recorded three CDs, one of which earned the “Editor’s Pick” recognition on CD Baby. A recipient of multiple awards, Elizabeth was named a winner in the National Flute Association Research Competition, semi-finalist in the NFA Young Artist Competition, and 2nd Runner-up in the Myrna Brown Young Artist Competition. In addition to her performance with Terra Voce, Elizabeth’s current artistic pursuits include the study of Brazilian choro and early childhood flute education. She holds the Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. She has taught at several universities throughout central Virginia, is on faculty at the Field School of Charlottesville, and teaches privately in her home studio in Crozet.
Krista Jobson
Flutist Krista Jobson enjoys a multi-faceted career that has included Principal Flute positions in orchestras, military bands, chamber music ensembles, concerto soloist appearances, summer music festivals, and university positions. A sought-after guest artist and clinician, she has performed and given masterclasses in Australia, Germany, Japan, France, Mexico, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Brazil, and Puerto Rico, as well as across the continental United States. Jobson is a past prize winner or finalist in competitions hosted by the National Flute Association, Florida Flute Association, and the American Prize in both the Professional-Soloist and Professional-Chamber Music categories. She can be heard on albums including “Duo Aldebaran: Colores Latinos” (2021); “Cherry Street Flute Duo: Flute Duos by Women Composers” (2022); “Crossroads Flute Quartet: Crossroads” (2023); and on “Flute New Music Consortium: FNMC Presents” (2023). After 14 years in higher education as an Associate Dean and Flute Professor in Texas, Jobson has recently relocated to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, where she is excited to contribute to the vibrant cultural landscape as a performer, collaborator, and as a private flute instructor.
Elizabeth Lantz
Elizabeth Lantz is Associate Professor of Practice in the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech. A flutist, educator, and advocate for contemporary music, she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across the U.S. and internationally, with appearances in South America, Europe, the Baltics, South Korea, and the Caribbean. Her recent engagements include featured performances at the College Music Society’s International Conference, the International Computer Music Conference in Seoul, South Korea, and the National Flute Association Convention in San Antonio. Lantz’s creative work emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and the integration of technology, exemplified by her 2024 premiere of The Fluted Bird for amplified flute and computer, supported by Virginia Tech’s ICAT and McGill University’s CIRMMT.
A passionate advocate for new music, Lantz actively commissions and premieres works that expand the flute repertoire, including Wish Sonatine by GRAMMY-nominated composer Valerie Coleman. She has taught in international residencies, served on national adjudication panels, and held leadership roles in regional and national music organizations. At Virginia Tech, she coordinates visiting artist residencies and engages in community outreach through her work with the NRV Friends of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. In recognition of her service, she received the 2024 Certificate for Excellence in Outreach and Engagement. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Lantz holds degrees from the University of Southern California and the University of Arizona and is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Nicole Mitchell Gantt
Nicole Mitchell Gantt is an award-winning creative flutist, composer, conceptualist, bandleader and educator. A United States Artist (2020), a Doris Duke Artist (2012), and a recipient of the Herb Alpert Award (2011) her research centers on the powerful legacy of contemporary African American culture and black experimental art. For over 20 years, Mitchell’s critically acclaimed Chicago-based Black Earth Ensemble (BEE) has been her primary compositional laboratory with which she has performed at festivals and art venues throughout Europe, Canada, and the US. The former first woman president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Mitchell composes for contemporary ensembles of varied instrumentation and size (from solo to orchestra and large jazz band) while incorporating improvisation and a wide aesthetic expression. She is perhaps best known for her work as a flutist, having developed a unique improvisational language and having been repeatedly awarded “Top Flutist of the Year” by Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll and the Jazz Journalists Association (2010-2022). Mitchell initially emerged from Chicago’s innovative music scene in the late 90s, having started as a co-founder of the all-woman group Samana, and a member of the David Boykin Expanse. Much of Mitchell’s creative process has been informed by literature and narrative, with a special interest in science fiction. Her album, Mandorla Awakening (FPE, 2017), combines Afrofuturism with intercultural collaboration and was selected by the New York Times as the #1 jazz album of 2017. As a composer, she has been commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Music NOW, French Ministry of Culture, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Newport Jazz Festival, the Art Institute of Chicago, the French American Jazz Exchange, Chamber Music America, the Chicago Jazz Festival, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and Bang on a Can. Mitchell has performed with creative music luminaries including Craig Taborn, Terri Lyne Carrington, Roscoe Mitchell, Joelle Leandre, Geri Allen, Mark Dresser, Anthony Davis, Myra Melford, Ed Wilkerson, Rob Mazurek, and Hamid Drake.
Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA’s historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda (map). Parking is available in the central grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Rd, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner. Handicap parking is available in the small parking lot adjacent to Bryan Hall.
All programs are subject to change.
For more information, please contact the UVA Department of Music at 434.924.3052 or music@virginia.edu.
This is an Arts Enhancement Event supported by the Office of the Provost & the Vice Provost for the Arts.
The University of Virginia Department of Music thanks Michael Gassmann and Cynthia Lewis for creating the Gassmann Fund which will invite innovative artists who perform or incorporate into their music experimental rock, free improvisation, world, and computer music; arrange residencies to create opportunities for faculty and students to work closely with innovative artists; support innovative and experimental programs and projects for faculty and students who are pushing musical boundaries; and organize trips for UVA students to collaborate with musicians and present original work outside of Charlottesville."