Department of Music

The Department of Music is pleased to present the ninth annual University of Virginia Flute Forum on Sunday, October 6, 2024. 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 Marianne Gedigian alongside guest artists Julietta Curenton, Jon Goodman, Christian Lampkin, and Abigail Simoneau.
Marianne Gedigian's recital will take place at 3:30pm in Old Cabell Hall. 

Schedule of events

8:00 am-3:00 pm, Old Cabell Hall Lobby
Registration

8:15 am-9:05 am, Room 107
“Exercises for Flutists” with Abby Simoneau

9:15 am-10:05 am, Room 107
“Coloring the Tone” with Julietta Curenton

10:00 am-10:50 am, Room 113
“Instrument Maintenance” with Jon Goodman

11:00 am-11:50 am, Room 107
Join Christian Lampkin to rehearse Shenandoah, to be performed at the start of the 3:30 pm recital

1:00 pm-2:20 pm, Room 107
Marianne Gedigian Masterclass, featuring winners of the sixth annual UVA Flute Forum Competition

2:30-3:20 pm, Room 113
“From Score to Sonority” with Christian Lampkin

3:30 pm, Old Cabell Auditorium
Marianne Gedigian in Recital

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 Sunday, October 6 and are in Old Cabell Hall (OCH) unless otherwise noted. 

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 when entering the competition).

Up to three winners will be selected to perform in a masterclass for Marianne Gedigian at the ninth annual University of Virginia Flute Forum on Sunday, October 6, 2024 in Charlottesville, Virginia

Those interested in entering should submit a recording of the repertoire 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). 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 Friday, September 13, 2024. Winners will be announced by September 27, 2024.

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

Biographies

Marianne Gedigian

Marianne Gedigian joined the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as professor of flute in fall 2023. She previously held the Butler Endowed Professorship in Flute and was a University Distinguished Teaching Professor at The University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music. 

Ms. Gedigian performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for over a decade, including several seasons as acting principal flute under Seiji Ozawa. As principal flute with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and acting principal flute with the Boston Pops, Ms. Gedigian has performed on dozens of recordings with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops Orchestras, Evening at Pops public television broadcasts as well as the nationally broadcast Fourth of July specials. She has also been heard on several John Williams’ movie scores, including Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List and can be seen in the film Blown Away. In the 2000 - 2001 season, Ms. Gedigian was invited by Mariss Jansons to perform as acting principal flute with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Her solo performances have taken her around the world, including recitals in Japan, Australia, China, Canada, Europe, and Armenia and she has appeared as concerto soloist numerous times with the Boston Pops Orchestra and with the Armenian Philharmonic performing her own transcription for flute of the Khachaturian Violin Concerto.  During her years in Boston, she performed as principal flute with every major arts organization including the Opera Company of Boston, Musica Viva, Boston Chamber Music Society, and as a member of Boston Ballet Orchestra. She was featured with flutist and vocalist Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame in performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.  Ms. Gedigian has presented recitals, concerti, and master classes at numerous universities, conservatories, and festivals across the United States as well as in Australia, Canada, China, Italy, Japan, England and Austria.

She won First Prize in the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition and the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition and was later featured in the NFA Annual Convention Gala and Headliner performances in Pittsburgh, New Orleans, San Diego and Orlando. She was founding member of the Boston-based Walden Chamber Players and was formerly a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet, one of chamber music’s pre-eminent and longest continuously active ensembles. Her solo recordings include Voice of the Flute and Revolution, both with pianist Rick Rowley and chamber music for flute, strings and piano, The Evolution of the American Sound, a collection of music that explores the American voice during the early to mid-twentieth century, with the Walden Chamber Players. Ms. Gedigian authored an allegorical tale, Survival of the Flutist, with illustrator Patti Adams published by Flutistry Boston.

Summer festival appearances include Brevard Music Center, ARIA International Summer Academy, Round Top International Music Festival, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Prior to her tenure at The University of Texas at Austin she was on faculty at Boston University College of Fine Arts and Boston Conservatory. She studied in Boston with Leone Buyse and Doriot Anthony Dwyer, and in Michigan with Clement Barone and Donna Olkowski.

Julietta Curenton

Known for her “bold and dramatically characterized playing” (Dallas Morning News), “great artistic sense” and “tone that draws in one’s ear with sounds and ideas that simply cannot be resisted,” (Philadelphia Inquirer) Julietta Curenton has established herself as a leading flute soloist, chamber and orchestral player, professor and clinician. 

Dr. Curenton won Premiere Prix at the Journées de les Harpes Competition in Arles, France and first prize at the National Flute Association young artist competition and Astral Artists’ national auditions. She has made several solo guest appearances with The National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, The Kennedy Center Institute Orchestra, Temple University Orchestra, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra and others. Most recently, she performed the New York premiere of  Dr. James Lee III’s evocative flute concerto, “Niiji Memories” with the Stony Brook University Symphony Orchestra.

In 2022, Dr. Curenton was appointed Assistant Professor of Flute at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. Dr. Curenton holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School, Master of Music degree from The Royal Northern College of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. She plays on a silver elite model Burkart Flute and is a proud Burkart Flutes & Piccolos artist.

Jon Goodman

Jon Goodman is a Woodwind Repair Specialist as well as a freelance clarinetist and saxophonist and teacher from Greensboro, NC. Jon repairs and teaches exclusively at Moore Music Company in Greensboro and performs regularly with the Piedmont Wind Symphony, Carolina Philharmonic, Western Piedmont Symphony, among others. Jon also just recently joined the faculty of Guilford College. He is also the other half of Chamber Music Duo, GremlinsDuo with Tim Fitzgerald out of Atlanta. As a clinician and lecturer, Mr. Goodman has given masterclasses and lectures at Appalachian State University, Duke University, and University of North Carolina at Greensboro among others. Originally from Syracuse, NY, his primary teachers include Norbert Buskey, Raphael Sanders, and Eric Mandat. He received his Bachelors of Music from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and his Masters of Music from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Jon enjoys running, biking, snowboarding, and golfing in his free time. 

Christian Lampkin

Originally from Denver, Colorado, Christian Lampkin is a soloist, chamber musician, and music educator based in Williamsburg, Virginia. Currently, he serves as a flutist/piccoloist with the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band and in the Langley Winds woodwind quintet, which tours throughout the eastern seaboard presenting masterclasses, clinics, and performances for countless aspiring musicians, local audiences, and world dignitaries.

Lampkin has been a prize winner in competitions hosted by The Schubert Club of Minneapolis, Upper Midwest Flute Association, Colorado Flute Association, and Colorado Flute Artists Competition. Chris has made appearances with the Virginia Symphony, Long Bay Symphony, Snow Pond Symphony, and Colour of Music Festival Orchestra. He has been commended for his “terrific style, sound projection, and commanding stage presence” (Sound Espressivo Global Competition) and has been awarded fellowships by organizations including Hot Springs Summer Music Festival, New Millennium Chamber Music Festival, Curtis Institute of Music Mentor Network, and the United States Air Force Band. Chris’s scholarly interests include providing inclusion and belonging to students who identify as LGBTQ+ through private pedagogy and flute repertoire by LGBTQ+ composers from the twentieth century.

Chris is in demand as a performer, conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for competitions and masterclasses both internationally and nationally. He has served on panels for the Upper Midwest Flute Association, Abu Dhabi Flute Society, and National Flute Association. Chris is proud to be a founding member of the Umoja Flute Institute for flutists of African descent. He has previously served on the faculty at South Carolina State University and Claflin University. 

His principal teachers include Nicole Esposito, Brook Ferguson, Sonora Slocum, and Eric Lamb. Other important mentors include Marina Piccinini, Dr. Nancy Andrew, Dr. Virgnia Broffitt Kunzer, and MSgt Megan Ensor. Christian personally endorses Altus Flutes and performs on a 1707 PS silver flute with a platinum-clad original Lafin headjoint and an 821SE silver alto flute. 

Abby Simoneau

Dr. Abby Simoneau, a New Hampshire native, received her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is on faculty at Alamance Community College, Guilford College, and Central Carolina Community College. Abby earned her Master of Music in Flute Performance from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Hampshire. She performs regularly with the Piedmont Wind Symphony, Western Piedmont Symphony, and the Salisbury Symphony. Since 2012, Abby has returned to Illinois each summer to perform with the Southern Illinois Music Festival. She recently performed with Musica Malicorne and Musica Le Mans in France. In her free time, Abby enjoys coaching gym classes, and sees the benefit of fitness in her life as a musician. 

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.

Additional support provided by the Wm. S. Haynes Co. and Altus Handmade Flutes.

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