2005 Competition Winners ........ 1Meet the Young Artists

From the President ..................... 2Flute Fair Reflections

Member Profile ........................... 3Katherine McClure

Frances Blaisdell: Our Link to Georges Barrère .................... 4

by Barbara Highton Williams

A n n o u n c e m e n t sFlute Happenings ............................... 3Member Announcements ................... 4Ensemble Program Concert andAnnual Meeting Announcement ....... 9

The New York Flute ClubApril 2005

In Concert

2005 YOUNG ARTIST WINNERSSunday, April 17, 2005, 5:30 pmCAMI Hall, 165 West 57th Street

Program subject to change.

2005 COMPETITION WINNERS

N E W S L E T T E R

I N T H I S I S S U E

Ballade .................................... Frank MartinRapid Fire .......................... Jennifer Higdon

Jessi Rosinski, fluteLinda Mark, piano

Syrinx .................................Claude DebussySonata ........................... Lowell Liebermann

Sooyun Kim, fluteLinda Mark, piano

Sonata in E� Major, BWV 1031 ..... J.S. BachSonata ................................ Francis PoulencFantaisie on Themes fromDer Freischutz ........................ Paul Taffanel

Sarah Yunji Moon, fluteTBA, piano

JESSI ROSINSKI, age 24, is currently a first year graduate stu-dent at the New England Conservatory where she studies withRenee Krimsier. She received her bachelor of music in fluteperformance summa cum laude from the Hartt School as a fel-lowship student of the Performance 20/20 Program. Jessi fin-ished second in the 2005 Pappoutsakis Memorial Competition,and has been a featured soloist with the Emerson String Quar-tet and Hartt Percussion Ensemble. She recently returned froman East Coast tour with the Callithumpian Consort, a Bostonnew music ensemble. An active teacher, Jessi currently serveson the faculty at the Winchester (MA) Community Music Schooland will be a guest teacher at the Stratford International FluteFestival this summer in England. Her teachers have included JohnWion, Laura Gilbert, Elena Duran, and Barbara Hopkins. ❑

SARAH YUNJI MOON1st place winner

JESSI ROSINSKI3rd placewinner

SARAH YUNJI MOON, age 19, was born in Seoul, Korea. She started playing the piano at the age of four, the flute at nine. She made her professional debut as a soloist with the Seoul Philharmonic when she was 11. After her family

moved to Canada in the year 2000, she continued her music edu-cation with Nora Shulman at the Royal Conservatory of Music in

Toronto. Sarah has won numerous awards and scholarships, includ-ing prizes at the Canadian Music Competition, the national finals atthe Canadian Music Festival, and the Tom Thomas scholarship com-petition. Last year, she won the Toronto Symphony Youth Orches-tra Concerto Competition, which resulted in her solo appearancewith the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. She is currently studying atNew England Conservatory with Jeanne Baxtresser. ❑

SOOYUN KIM, age 23, is currently pursuing amaster’s degree at the New England Conser-vatory under the tutelage of Paula Robison. Anative of Korea, she performed both Mozartconcertos with the Seoul National Philhar-monic Orchestra at age 14, and appeared assoloist with the Seoul Symphony Orchestraand the Yewon Orchestra. At age 16, she madeher U.S. debut performing the Nielsen FluteConcerto with the New Jersey Symphony Or-chestra. Kim has won top prizes at the JamesPappoutsakis Flute Competition (2003), theGreater Boston Flute Association Competition(2003), and the National Flute Association Com-

petition (1997) and has performed with the Jeunesse Musicale WorldOrchestra (Berlin, Germany), the New York String Orchestra, and theBudapest and Borromeo String Quartets. This season, Kim will appearas soloist with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra at RiversideChurch in NYC. Sooyun was a Juilliard Pre-College Division student,and obtained her bachelor of music from the New England Conservatory,studying with Renée Krimsierand Paula Robison. ❑

SOOYUN KIM2nd place

winner

2 — NYFC Newsletter

Flute Fair Reflections by Jayn Rosenfeld

Dear Friends:

From thePresident

THE NEW YORK FLUTE CLUB INC.

2004–2005

Board of DirectorsJayn Rosenfeld, President

Ardith Bondi, First Vice President

Katherine Fink, Second Vice President

Barbara H. Williams, Recording Secretary

Don Hulbert, Membership Secretary

James N. Blair, Treasurer

Rochelle Itzen Seth RosenthalSvjetlana Kabalin Rie SchmidtFred Marcusa Patricia SpencerPatti Monson Stefani Starin

Nancy Toff

NewsletterKatherine Saenger, Editor115 Underhill RoadOssining, NY 10562(914) 762-8582klsaenger@yahoo.com

Alice Barmore, Layout/Production125 Christopher St., #4HNew York, NY 10014(212) 675-9706 (phone and fax)abarmore@earthlink.net

www.nyfluteclub.org

Past PresidentsGeorges Barrère .................. 1920–1944John Wummer ...................... 1944–1947Milton Wittgenstein ............ 1947–1952Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1952–1955Frederick Wilkins ................. 1955–1957Harry H. Moskovitz ............. 1957–1960Paige Brook ........................... 1960–1963Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1963–1964Maurice S. Rosen ................ 1964–1967Harry H. Moskovitz ............. 1967–1970Paige Brook ........................... 1970–1973Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1973–1976Harold Jones ........................ 1976–1979Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1979–1982Paige Brook ........................... 1982–1983John Solum ........................... 1983–1986Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1986–1989Sue Ann Kahn ...................... 1989–1992Nancy Toff ............................. 1992–1995Rie Schmidt ........................... 1995–1998Patricia Spencer ................... 1998–2001Jan Vinci ................................. 2001–2002

Advisory BoardJeanne Baxtresser Robert LangevinHarold Jones Gerardo Levy

Marya Martin

Copyright © 2005 by The New York Flute Club Inc.unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

The Flute Fair shone with value and virtue, wonderful fluteplaying and talks and exhibits, excited children and adultssoaking up the events of the day, and, last but not least, yourvalorous Flute Club Board and volunteers basically workingtheir heads off to make a smooth, accessible day. We mustname by name:❏ Kathy Fink, who planned and executed the programming

with the help of Nancy Toff, who has a direct line to ourfounder and guardian angel, Georges Barrère;

❏ Connie Boykan, our liaison with LaGuardia and its amenities;❏ Rochelle Itzen and Stefani Starin, who ran the adults’ and children’s Ensemble

Happenings;❏ Pat Zuber, who ran an inspiring competition, and Pat Spencer, ditto the masterclass;❏ Sharon Powers, who delivered all those flute and music exhibitors, Barbara

Highton Williams, who took charge of selling Club members’ goodies, and LauraGeorge, who unearthed our many member-volunteers; and

❏ Ardith Bondi and Rie Schmidt and Svjetlana Kabalin, Lords High Everything Else.

We most certainly could not have done without all of you, our members.A word about the competition. Susan Lurie made a brilliant observation at the

evening concert. We were sitting and admiring Leone Buyse’s smooth, sereneperspective on Barrère’s programming predilections. Her control and love of musicwere equally evident. Susan contrasted her style of playing with that of the youngfinalists in the competition, and described it as a change of generation, or school,or tradition. The 20-year-olds play in a more extroverted manner, as performers orsalesmen, as a total package of performance. There is more obvious physicalinvolvement and showmanship, and quite frankly, there is more speed. I’m torn onwhether this is or isn’t a good thing. Susan tried to create a context, saying thatLeone Buyse studied with the first generation of American pedagogues, and is moredirectly connected to the European/French school of playing. The “kids” areproducts of the younger teachers, and are more strictly “American.” We talked aboutthe influence of new instruments, which are louder and project so brilliantly. And Ithought about the influence of video games, Internet interactive immediacy, aboutrobots, and animation, and speed and media overload in general. That youngpeople are “jazzed up” is a simplistic description, but maybe it’s true…. What doyou think? In the end, we admire the enormous talents of players of all ages. Andwe have to be amazed by the increase in numbers of good/great young players: thelevel of excellence is going up to flood level. It is thrilling. ❑

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FLUTE

HAPPENINGSMember ProfileKatherine McClureNYFC membersince 1997

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 2APRIL ’05

FREE to current NYFC members, this section lists upcomingperformances by members; flute-related contests, auditions, andmasterclasses organized/sponsored by members; and briefdescriptions of members’ new recordings, sheet music, and books.Send submissions to the Newsletter Editor.

Employment: Teacher at theLawrenceville School, theWestminster Conservatory, and herprivate studio. In addition to freelancework, she is the Edison (NJ) Symphony’sprincipal flute and is second flute withthe Riverside (NJ) Symphonia.

Recent recital/performance: A September2004 recital of flute and harp music inthe “Nassau at Six” series at NassauPresbyterian Church in Princeton,centered around Katherine Hoover’s“Dances and Variations” with threedancers from the American RepertoryBallet School; a January 29, 2005 recitalof flute and piano music in the “West-minster Performs” series at Bristol Chapelin Princeton, centered around a sonatafor flute and piano by resident Westmin-ster Choir College/Conservatory com-poser/pianist Laurence Altman.

Career highlight(s): Playing OttoLuening’s “Three Canons” for two fluteswith Sue Ann Kahn at the NYFC’sHarvey Sollberger 65th Birthday Tributein February 2004; performing as princi-pal with the Irish Concert Orchestra withfeatured singer Ronan Tynan in CarnegieHall in October 2004.

Current flute: Semi-handmade artist modelPrima Sankyo with C foot (c.1985) acces-sorized with a newer headjoint (c. 1997)and additional footjoint from Sankyo (Bfoot, 1995) and a Powell flute with Cfoot (No. 43, c. 1920s). Armstrong anddi Medici alto flutes, and Burkhart-Phelan and Haynes piccolos.

Influential flute teachers: Jayn Rosenfeld,William Bennett, Julius Baker, Jean-PierreRampal, Michel Debost, Pierre Sechetand Philippe Suzanne (baroque flute),James Scott, and Robert Dick.

High school: Princeton High School inPrinceton, NJ.

Degrees: BA in music/French (SkidmoreCollege, 1977), MA in music/flute perfor-mance (Mason Gross School of the Arts,Rutgers University, 1988), DMA studies(Mason Gross School of the Arts, 1988-89).

Most notable and/or personally satisfyingaccomplishment(s): Performing theLiebermann and Prokofiev sonatas in2004 (though not on the same pro-gram!). She also enjoys presentingoutreach programs in local schools.

Favorite practice routines: Yoga, thenWye’s Tone Book, starting low and slow,and doing harmonics, whistle tones,buzz tones, multiphonics, more melodicpatterns in the second and third octaves,listening for intonation and for a vibranttone. She concludes with Reichert Nos. 1and 4, Taffanel & Gaubert scales indifferent articulations, chromatics, andany repertoire she needs to prepare.

Other interests: Katherine and herhusband Bob Brown enjoy walking,visiting the gym, and going to themovies (he moonlights as a moviereviewer for the Princeton Packet, thelocal paper). She also treasures timespent with her young adult son (Will-iam), stepson (Nick), parents (Don andLaura Lee McClure), and brother (Ted)and his family. She says, “I’m also fondof a good novel now and then, althoughit takes me forever to finish one!”

Advice for NYFC members: “Every musi-cian, whether professional or amateur,should become familiar with some kindof relaxation technique: Yoga, Alexander,Feldenkrais, or some combination.”Other than that, she’d like to repeat theadvice she took from Julius Baker manyyears ago when agonizing about howshe measured up to students at some ofthe more competitive music schools: “Ifyou enjoy it, just do it!” ❑

Thursday 7:00 pmPalisades Virtuosi with MARGARETSWINCHOSKI, flute, Donald

Mokrynski, clarinet, Ron Levy, piano, andthe Orpheus Male Chorus of Ridgewood willperform an “Orpheus with his Lute” programincluding world premieres by GodfreySchroth and Ron Levy, and works by Manno,Lane and Gluck.

• Lincoln Center Library, 40 Lincoln CenterPlaza, NYC • Info, call 212-870-1630 or visitwww.palisadesvirtuosi.org.

Sunday 7:00 pmMICHAEL PARLOFF will closethe inaugural concert season of

“America’s Dream Chamber Artists”with a performance of Mozart’s Concerto forFlute and Harp with harpist Bridget Kibbey.

• Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space,95th Street and Broadway, NYC • Admission:$30 general, $25 members, $15 students/seniors$15, children $10 • Info, call 212-864-5400 orvisit http://www.symphonyspace.org.

Sunday 2:00 pmPalisades Virtuosi with MARGARETSWINCHOSKI, flute, Donald

Mokrynski, clarinet, and Ron Levy, piano,will perform an “All-American!” program ofworks by Bernstein, Ives, Copland, andLampkin.

• First Presbyterian Church, 150 East PalisadesAvenue, Englewood, NJ • Admission: $15donation (suggested) • Info, call 201-568-7373.

Friday 8:00 pmPalisades Virtuosi with MARGARETSWINCHOSKI, flute, Donald

Mokrynski, clarinet, Ron Levy, piano, andguest pianist Linda Sweetman-Waters willperform “A Starry Night,” a concert inmemory of Richard Lane. Program to featurethe world premiere of Lane’s Trio for thePalisades Virtuosi and works by Chopin,Baier, and Holst.

• Unitarian Society of Ridgewood 113 CottagePlace, Ridgewood, NJ • Admission: $15general, $12 students/seniors • Info, visitwww.palisadesvirtuosi.org.

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Flute Happenings DeadlinesIssue Deadline Mail date

May 2005 04/07/05 04/28/05

(Cont’d on next page)

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FLUTE

HAPPENINGS

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 2APRIL ’05

Saturday 8:00 pmNANCY HOROWITZ, flute, willperform Beethoven’s Trio in D

Major, Op. 87 (arr. for two flutes and altoflute), Gordon Jacob’s Introduction andFugue (for piccolo, flute, and alto flute), andShostakovich’s Four Waltzes (arr. for flute/piccolo, clarinet and band) with colleaguesfrom the Waldwick Band.

• Crescent School, 165 Crescent Avenue,Waldwick, NJ • Admission is free. Info, call201-263-9630.

Sunday 8:30 pmMICHAEL PARLOFF (flute) andFriends will present a program of

music for various combinations of flute, viola,cello, marimba, and piano by Haydn, GarethFarr, Carl Vine, Erwin Schulhoff, Nielsen, andReinecke.

• Weill Recital Hall, 154 West 57th Street, NYC• Admission: $35 general, $15 seniors/students• Info, visit http://www.midamerica-music.com/weill_may.htm.

Sunday 4:00 pmSextets by Poulenc, Heiden, andothers will be performed by

KATHERINE McCLURE, flute, Esma Pasic-Filipovic, piano, Melissa Bohl, oboe, KenEllison, clarinet, Ivy Haga, bassoon, DanWions, horn, and Tom Buckelew, altosaxophone, in a Westminster Performs:Kaleidoscope Series concert.

• Bristol Chapel, Westminster Choir College,Princeton, NJ • Admission: $10 general, $5students/seniors • Info/tickets, 609-921-2663.

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

PATRICIA HARPER’s residential flute class inBrownsville, Vermont, will take place June19–25. Email for application and repertorylist: patricia@patriciaharper.com.

Pantasmagoria 2005 featuring Peter Lloydand ROBERT DICK will be presented by“whooosh” and the Flute Studio of theUniversity at Buffalo’s Music Department.Events to include an intensive techniquesretreat (July 7-9) and daily masterclasses,workshops, and concerts focussing onBaroque, French school, 20th century andcontemporary (July 11-15). For information/application contact CHERYL GOBBETTIHOFFMAN at gabbycheer@aol.com or 716-884-3062, orgabcheer@acsu.buffalo.edu or716-645-2765, x 1257. ❑

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FRANCES BLAISDELL:Our Link to Georges Barrère

by Barbara Highton Williams

Frances Blaisdell may be the oldest living student of the New York FluteClub’s founder, Georges Barrère. In this centennial-year celebration of hisarrival in the United States, it was a privilege to talk with her about him,her other teachers, and flutists of an earlier era.

Frances was an active part of the New York musical scene for fifty years, andremains one of the New York Flute Club’s longest-standing members. In 1930 shebecame first flute, under Leon Barzin, of the National Orchestral Association, andsoon after, joined Barrère to play Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 under thebaton of Walter Damrosch at Madison Square Garden. She was first flute in theNew Opera Company, under Fritz Busch, and in the New Friends of Music underFritz Stiedry, and was soloist at Radio City Music Hall. In 1933, she played firstflute in the orchestra when Stokowski conducted the opening concert of the newJuilliard School. In 1937 she was refused an audition for the opening as assistantfirst flute of the New York Philharmonic, but 25 years later became the first womanwind player to play (as an extra) in that orchestra.

With her husband, clarinetist Alexander Williams, she and three other Philhar-monic players formed the Blaisdell Woodwind Quintet, which toured the east coastand had a regular series on NBC and CBS radio. In the late ’30s, she playednumerous concerts with soprano Lily Pons. During the war, she played on Broad-way, and later taught at Mannes, the Manhattan School of Music, NYU, and theDalcroze School. In 1959 she became principal flute of the New York City Ballet.

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BARBARA HIGHTON WILLIAMS:Frances, I still remember gratefully thesummer I studied with you. Twentyyears later, you continue to enjoyteaching!FRANCES BLAISDELL: I am teachingone day a week now, and I have somevery talented students at Stanford…I’vealways loved the teaching.

Regarding your own training—I understand you began your flutestudies at the tender age of five!Yes, my father, who owned a lumberbusiness, was an amateur flutist. Hehad played an eight-key wooden Meyerflute, until he went to the University ofPennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1905and came across a Boehm system flute.On examining it, he was sure it mustbe better than his, and bought it. Buthe didn’t buy a fingering chart. He justfigured it out for himself. The finger-ings he worked out were actuallyharmonics. And that’s what he taughtme, starting me out on the piccolo.

When I was eleven, my father wroteto Ernest Wagner to ask him if hewould teach “my Jim.” (My father hadbeen terribly disappointed that I was agirl, and always called me Jim.) Whenwe went to meet him, Mr. Wagner sawme and said, “No. I won’t take a girl,because there is nothing she can dowith it. It would be a waste of my timeand of your money.” My father said,“Your time will not be wasted, nor willmy money,” and insisted that I play forhim. So I did, and Mr. Wagner asked,“Who taught the little girl?” My fatherwas so proud of me it was pathetic.But, of course, everything was wrong—tonguing, fingering, everything. But Mr.Wagner agreed to try me for six initiallessons. I had to learn everything overfrom the beginning. It would have beenso much easier for both of us if myfather had never taught me anything.

Tell us about Mr. Wagner.He played piccolo in the Philharmonicall his life. He was a wonderful person.My father had been [very] strict andsevere with us. Mr. Wagner was sowarm and understood the situation

right away. I liked him very, verymuch, and was very close to him. Welived on a farm in a small town in NewJersey (Red Bank), and I used to spendweekends with the Wagners because Iplayed in a children’s orchestra in NewYork, and the rehearsal was Sundaymorning, when there was no train infrom Red Bank. So I used to stayovernight with the Wagners, who had

no children. I’d have my lesson Satur-day at noon, and then I was free toroam the city all afternoon. I had to beback by five o’clock for dinner. Thenhe took me to the Philharmonic—theyplayed concerts every Saturday night—and the following morning I went tomy rehearsal.

Mr. Wagner came from a musicalfamily in Chicago. His father had beenin the Chicago Symphony, his brotherwas in the San Francisco Symphony,and I guess they had music in theirhouse all the time…. I worked mainlyon études with him, and had a fairlygood technique [by the time] I went tothe Juilliard, but not a great deal of therepertoire. So it was revolutionarywhen I got to that stage with Barrère.

Although Mr. Wagner played in thePhilharmonic, the salary wasn’t verygood in those days, [but because] therewas so much work in New York, hewould also play a show many nights.He knew everybody, and they hadwonderful parties at their house—theylived on 57th Street across from Carn-egie Hall. And even when there weren’tbig parties, people were dropping in allthe time. He meant a great deal to me.

Tell us about how you came to studywith Georges Barrère.In 1928 I applied for admission to theInstitute of Musical Art in New York(the undergraduate school of the futureJuilliard). I was given a date to auditionfor Mr. Barrère. As I walked into thefoyer, a woman [at the] desk said, “Andwhat can I do for you?” I said, “I’mFrances Blaisdell, and I’ve come to playfor Mr. Barrère.” She said, “You’reFrancis Blaisdell!? Oh, there must besome mistake.” And I said, “No,” (Ithought she meant I had the wrongday), “I have a letter, and this is theright day and the right time.” She said,“No, it’s not that. We expected a boy.”You see, someone in the office hadspelled my first name with an i insteadof an e. She said, “Every studentaccepted into this school is a potentialprofessional musician, and there’snothing you can do with it, becausethere is not one woman playing anyinstrument in any orchestra anywherein the world. So there is no future foryou at all, and we would lose ourinvestment. I am sure you under-stand….” I said, “No, I do not under-stand. Just because I am a girl, I can’thave an education? I can’t go home andtell my father that I didn’t play for Mr.Barrère. Can’t I even play for him?” Andshe said, “Well, the time has beenreserved. I guess you can play for him,but he will not take you. I want thatunderstood.”

So I climbed the long stairs up to hisstudio, with such a heavy heart, andjust about in tears, to think that I wasgoing to be denied this opportunity justbecause I was a girl. I knocked on hisdoor, and I’ll never forget the shockwhen he opened the door. As I said, Icame from a farm in New Jersey, whereall were everyday, ordinary New Jerseypeople. And there stood this man, very

In the first week of March, I caught up with Frances by telephone at her homenear Stanford University, where she has taught since she was hired just a monthafter “retiring” from New York in 1973.

Ernest Wagner, Frances Blaisdell’s first teacher, played inthe New York Philharmonic from 1900 to 1928. Hismethod for beginners was published in 1918.

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tall, with a full black beard (unusual in1928) and glasses without rims on ablack ribbon. And he said, “Come in.Your name?” He was very muchannoyed that I had no accompanist.And I could hardly understand him,he had such an accent. He let me playmy piece all the way through—and youcan guess—it was Chaminade, ourwell-worn friend.

When I finished, he just lookedright through me with those little blackbeady eyes. I had no idea what heexpected or whether I had playedwell. But finally he said, “You go tozee office, and you tell zem I wantyou, and, if nécéssaire, you have fullscholarship. Comprenez-vous?” “Oh,yes!” I understood very well! I canremember gathering up my flute case—didn’t bother to take the flute apart—I just got out of that room, my heartpounding, and rejoicing so much, sodifferent from the way I had walked upten minutes before! So down I went tothe lobby, all the time saying, “I’m in,I’m in!” The secretary sent for Miss vonHornbostel, the registrar, a very grimperson. I told her what he’d said, andshe said, “I think it is a great mistake!A great mistake.”

So, what was it like there?We had a great many fine young flutiststhere. I am not quite sure…(this was along time ago!) [laughs] how many ofthem came to the Institute, or howmany of them came later to theJuilliard. The Juilliard was a graduateschool, and a wonderful one. It wasdown on the east side of New York inan old brownstone house. They hadsuch an outstanding education. Theyplayed every chamber music piece…and they were thoroughly coached init. They didn’t get just a smattering ofthings. They only took piano, stringsand voice students. In his will Mr.Juilliard had said those were the onlyinstruments to be included, but hemade one little loophole—he said “oranything that would add to the stu-dents’ development.” They wanted todo opera, because the singers neededto learn that repertoire more thananything else, and couldn’t do itwithout an orchestra. So that gave themthe opportunity to set up the graduateschool. And there was so much money.

There was about $40 million, as Iremember…. This was 1932. I hadgotten a bachelor’s in ’31.

The flute players there were hand-picked—everybody was very talented.There was Frederick Wilkins, whocame from California. He went on tobe first flute in the New York CityOpera, and in the New York City Ballet,where he played for many years. Sincethat was just a seasonal job, he alsoplayed at the Music Hall; he was maybethe number one freelance flutist in NewYork. He did the Firestone Hour, theTelephone Hour, all those big showsthat were important, and later he taughtat the Juilliard in the prep department.There was Victor Just, who later playedat the Metropolitan Opera. He was oneof the first ones. Robert Morris camefrom Cleveland, and later became thesecond flute in the New York Philhar-monic. There was also a flutist namedRobert Bolles, from Nebraska, wholater became the Dean of Music at theUniversity of Florida.

We had class lessons at the Juilliardlike [they had] at the Paris Conserva-tory. There were five of us. There wereno other girls. To my knowledge I wasthe first girl [wind player] in the school.

There was also Jack Petrie…and laterJames Hosmer, who also played at theMetropolitan Opera. Later, quite a bitlater (1935 or ’36) some girls began tocome. Ruth Freeman, from Cleveland,was the first. We never were reallyaccepted on an equal footing with themen, but she was very successful inNew York as a freelancer. And therewas Anabel Hulme from the Northwest.All very talented people.

Did you know Ruth Freeman well?Yes…She was a terribly hard worker.We all were! Barrère was very demand-ing. When I started with him that year,he said, “Four hours of practice a dayminimum!” And the scales and thearpeggios, something like the Taffaneland Gaubert [17 Daily Exercises], had tobe memorized, and there were metro-nome marks for them…and we did allthe Andersen [études]. Ruth alwayscame wonderfully prepared. She hadan unusual embouchure and played alittle differently. Had a big sound. Ruthwas a very little person, about five feettall, and very popular in the school.She played a lot of chamber music, andalways played well. Very reliable. Sheplayed a lot in New York and made afairly good living. She played in theorchestra after I left. (We had a won-derful conductor there—AlbertStoessel—a tremendous musician,wonderful ear, also very demanding.)

Would you describe Barrère’s classlessons?Amazing. They were sixty minutes tothe dot. He never looked at his watchthat I remember. But you never got anyextra time. He was busy. He didn’thave it.

Barrère was a natural, and a greatteacher, though not in the traditionalway. He couldn’t explain how toproduce a beautiful tone, but youlearned by listening to him. I heard JimHosmer ask him one day (we all fivesat there for the lessons), “Could youhelp me with my tone?” And Barrèresaid “No, you figure it out for your-self—you’ll remember it much better.”That’s a pretty big order. We…didn’tknow what to figure out. And thevibrato—I had a terrible time with that,because I played with a fast nanny-goatvibrato, which he hated, and so did I.

Critic Leonard Liebling of the New York American wrote ofBlaisdell’s Philharmonic performance, “It just sohappened that I had never before heard a womanperform a major work on the flute, and at a symphonyconcert, and the experience proved to be an instructiveand edifying surprise. Miss Blaisdell impressing me asan artist of quite uncommon attainments.”

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He said, “Sing! Can’t you sing?” Andangry about it, you know. And meeklyI would say, “Mr. Barrère, how do yousing?” And he would pick up the fluteand play something like the Orpheus,until you would just melt, it was sogorgeous, and I had no idea how hedid it. But Fred Wilkins got it rightaway. He figured out what he did,and helped me with mine.

Then when I went to Moyse, hesaid the same thing—”The vibrato istoo fast!” I said, “I know—what shouldI do?” “Well. You sing.” [Laughs] “Itshould sound like a singer. You shouldn’tbe conscious of the vibrations. Itshould be a warm, singing tone.”

And when I went to Kincaid, hesaid, “The vibrato is too fast.” I thought,“If he tells me to sing, I’m going to hithim with my gold flute!” But he didn’t.Kincaid was something else. He had ananalytical mind, and he could say toyou, “Two plus two is four because…”He could spell things out, and there aresome of us who have to have it spelledout. It was just wonderful…. He said,“There’s a muscle in your throat withwhich you cough, and that controls thespeed of the vibrato.”

And he said, “Now play this littleexercise: start on C and play chromati-cally down through low G, four notesto a beat, four beats to a measure, fourpulsations to a beat, sixteen pulsationsto a measure, at [MM=] 72, and no tone,just like a little tea kettle whispering onthe stove, and get that perfectly evenwith the metronome.” And then thesame thing again: “Don’t make it hard.[Now] all you do is say, ‘Ha ha ha haha ha.’” A throat staccato. And the nextstep is the same production, but youput the support under it and it’s moreof a “Whoo whoo whoo whoo whoowhoo.” But it has to be controlled.(Then Fred found this could be appliedto exercises in Bona’s little book,Rhythmic Articulation.) Kincaid wouldhave us [apply this controlled vibratoto] things like Handel sonatas—anyslow movements. And that settled thatproblem. But Barrère had no idea howto teach vibrato.

So at that point, it was all repertoire?That’s right…. Of course, we did allthe Bach sonatas; we did much Handel;and the Mozart concerti, and Quantz;

and then there were a lot of Frenchthings, like the Fauré Fantaisie andthe Enesco Cantabile and Presto. Heplayed a great deal, and that was thewonderful thing, to hear that.

Now Arthur Lora also taught at theJuilliard School.

Did you ever work with Lora?No. I knew him for years. He was verygreat friends with the Wagners, and hecame to many of their parties. I lovedhis playing. He was first flute in theopera, and was just a magnificent artist.[He was at Juilliard] a long time, andvery much respected. And his pupilsloved him.

Barrère played for us so much, andhe had a great sense of humor, andwas always very witty, but always verybusinesslike and demanding. A highlevel was established and maintainedalways.

In a nutshell, could you say what it wasthat you got from him?The inspiration. To hear week afterweek after week such a high level—always you had that example to hopeto…not achieve, maybe, but to ap-proach.

What was he like?Barrère had a very high opinion ofhimself (as he should have). He reallywanted us to call him “Maître”—I nevercould quite bring myself to do that. Hewas always “Mr. Barrère” to me. At thattime, and for many years, if you werenot a Barrère student in New York, youhad very little opportunity. He con-trolled the market completely.

(However, John Wummer told methat when he came to New York, hewent to Barrère for a lesson, andBarrère said, “There is nothing I canteach you. You are a consummateartist.” And he never had anotherlesson. And of course, Wummer wasa great, great artist. He had the mostunusual embouchure I’ve ever seen….He played way out of the left side ofhis mouth. But what came out of hismouth was wonderful. He never misseda note, never missed a beat. I used tosub quite a bit in the New York Philhar-monic, and it was wonderful what hecould do.)

The [number one teacher] beforeBarrère had been Carl Wehner [firstflute in the New York Philharmonic]. Inever heard him, but I have heard thathe was a fine player. Mr. Wagner usedto talk about him a lot. It was very sadbecause his pupils dropped him like ahotcake [for Barrère]. Everyone wantedthe new French school, so differentfrom the heavier German style.

Barrère had such gorgeoussound…mellifluous. It wasn’t always[uniformly] sweet. It was lush, andbeautiful, and big, but he had a thou-sand colors. And he could change it somuch—it was just wonderful what hecould do with that. I don’t think I everheard a flute player who was his equal.And I wasn’t the only one who thoughtso. It was remarkable…just beautiful,what he did.

He wore a great big fedora. Helooked wonderful in it. With that bighat and his beard, he was a command-ing figure. At parties, time after time, he

Lawrence Gilman of the New York Herald Tribune oncewrote of Blaisdell, “She added, incidentally, to thedecorative values of the occasion, standing straightand slim and undismayed, gowned in black velvet, atthe front of the platform. These decorative values arenot to be despised, even by musicians.” Bruno ofHollywood took this publicity photo.

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would come into a room, and a silencewould come over the crowd. He had apresence. He told me that he workedvery hard to keep his French accent—that it was one of his biggest assetswhen he went on the road…[laughs].

He was a very warm and caringman, but kept a professional distance.

BW: Did he give you great moralsupport throughout your career?Oh, yes. All the students at the Juilliardadored him. We felt he took a personalinterest in each one of us. But therewas one incident in the spring of 1932.At Christmas time in 1931, Juilliard hadput on a children’s opera called Jackand the Beanstalk. And it was sosuccessful, even up there at 120th Street,that they decided to take it down toBroadway, where we played it forabout a month. Of course it was aunion job, and I made a lot of moneyfor those times. And always in the backof my mind had been the thought Iwould like to go to France and studywith Gaubert.

There was a contest in New York,for which I was hoping to play, calledthe Naumburg, and you had to memo-rize two concert programs, and thecommittee would choose from thoseprograms. You could win a New Yorkrecital, probably Town Hall, and acontract with a manager, and a tourthrough the United States. It was a bigprize. That year the committee haddecided to include winds [for the firsttime], although the will stated it was forstrings, piano, and voice.

So I was working very hard on thesetwo programs with Mr. Barrère…. AndI walked into my lesson one day and Isaid, “I’m going to France this summerto study with Gaubert.” I was so stupid!The temperature in that room fell about30 degrees in one split second, and hiseyes narrowed and he said, “You havethe best teacher in the world right now!Why would you think of another?” AndI said I thought it would be a wonder-ful experience to go to France, and I’dalways liked Gaubert’s music. He said,“Go to France, but don’t study.” So Isaid, “I don’t think my family would

support that idea.” And he said, “Well,are you trying for the Naumburg prize?I can’t arrange for you to win that, butI can arrange for you to lose it. And ifyou go to France you will not win thatprize.” I was stunned…and said, “Verywell. I don’t go to France.” And wewent on with the lesson.

Well about a month later, the[Naumburg] family took the committeeto court and said their father did notwant winds competing for this prize,and the court upheld the will. We werenot allowed to play. And I went toFrance.

There I met, through a Philharmonichorn player whom I knew, a Parisian[oboist] named Michel Nazzi, and heknew Gaubert well, and said “I’ll setup an audition for you…and take youto meet him.” Gaubert was a tremen-dously respected flutist and musician.He was conductor at the opera. [Hereplied to Nazzi that] he didn’t teachin the summer, adding “And I couldn’tcare less about an American girl fluteplayer.” So that was out. But Nazzi said,“I have arranged to have [Marcel]Moyse hear you.” So I played forMoyse, and studied with him.

Was there a radical difference in whatyou brought back?I had had three lessons a week, andthere was an enormous improvementin my technique. Barrère was disap-pointed that I had studied with anotherteacher and the lessons were uncom-fortable all that fall. But I was playingin the National Orchestral Association,which Leon Barzin conducted. And atthe December 1932 concert, when theviolin soloist was indisposed, I wasasked on short notice to play Mozart’sD Major Concerto. From this I got a lotof recognition. And when I went formy next lesson, he knew I’d playedthat, and he just held out his arms,and gave me a great big hug, and the[tension] was all over.

Tell us a bit about your later studieswith Kincaid.He of course was a Barrère student,too. But Kincaid also learned a greatdeal from [Philadelphia Orchestraoboist] Marcel Tabuteau, who was sucha great artist, and disciplined everybodyaround him. I heard more than once

The program at the bottom was the New York FluteClub’s October 1944 memorial concert for Barrère.He had died the previous June.NE

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that at a Philadelphia concert, when thestrings were going too high, Tabuteauwould come out after intermission andgive a much lower A than the 440, justto bring them down—[laughs] right inthe middle of a concert!

And people like [Julius] Baker toldme that when he played at Curtis andTabuteau was coaching the woodwindquintet, Tabuteau demanded muchfrom those people, and got it. I knowthat he worked with Kincaid a lot afterhe went into the orchestra. And to getinto the Philadelphia Orchestra, Kincaidhad to do a piano and theory auditionfor Stokowski! He didn’t want just aflute player. He wanted a good musi-cian.

Kincaid was a wonderful man. Iloved him very much. I didn’t studywith him regularly…because by thenI was busy with a family, and with acareer. It’s not easy to juggle both,you know.

What impact did he have on yourplaying?Well he got that vibrato straightenedout. That was the biggest thing. And amuch more open tone, because he wasa first flute in the orchestra, and knewwhat that meant…to build up thatsound, whereas Barrère was more ofa chamber music player. My techniquewas pretty well established by that

time. We worked some on it, but nota lot. I learned grouping from him.[Editor’s note: See John C. Krell,Kincaidiana, p. 31, published by theNational Flute Association.] This wasalways so helpful in the ballet, whenwe did the big works and never hadmuch time to rehearse them. They werehard—a lot of Bartok, and things likethat. Without that grouping I wouldhave had trouble.

I am not a writer, but I’ve oftenthought that I might like to write abook about these four great teachers,because the contrast was so interesting.And each one had much to offer. Butcertainly the giant of them all wasBarrère. No question about that.

Did you ever hear anything fromBarrère about his old French friends,like flutist Louis Fleury, and composerslike Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, thosehe knew before leaving France?No.

Did he ever speak of the composerswhose works he premiered after comingto the United States, like Schmitt, Griffes,Pierné, Milhaud, Roussel….No, he didn’t. Just a little about Griffes,whom he respected greatly, and whomhe was always so sad about, becauseGriffes was already so ill…reallystarving, you know. He had no money

at all, and was not a practical person.American music had no recognition.People didn’t like it. It wasn’t donevery much. He was in such badphysical condition, he passed onprematurely. But people thought hewas one of the most talented, if not thegreatest, American composer we everhad. That’s a big statement. But Barrèrethought that.

You have an autographed score ofDensity 21.5.Yes, I got to know Varèse very well—I was playing a lot with a trio and hewas coaching us. One night, hebrought this piece out and worked withme a little on it, and I played it on abroadcast, I think it was for WNYC….

Did you ever have any contact withHindemith?No. I remember the first performancethat Barrère did of his sonata. But Inever met him. Now when I look back,I am so sorry—Chaminade was living!And a lot of these French composers!And I went to France very often, and if[only] I’d just known enough to lookthem up…! It was an interesting period.I did work with Enesco. He conducteda WPA Orchestra concert at the Metro-politan Opera House. I was first flute,and in rehearsing his RomanianRhapsody, I had just played the flutecadenza at the beginning a bit too fast,and he leaned over, and, continuing toconduct, just whispered, “Pas trop vite,mademoiselle.” It was so thoughtful ofhim not to stop and single me out infront of all the men.

Speaking of composers Barrère champi-oned, I understand you had a part inthe first tryout of Henry Brant’s Angelsand Devils at Juilliard, with the com-poser conducting. What do you remem-ber about that?Well, it was a very demanding piece.There were eleven flutes, and I playedthe solo flute part. It was a veryinteresting work, and still is. He was avery talented young composer, withinteresting ideas, and quite revolution-ary. This was a long time ago, and Idon’t think any of us had ever heard orplayed a piece like this, so it was hardto learn, and to put together. But wewere all pretty good players, and we

Post-Concert Refreshments Needed for May 15th—Please contact Beatrice Strauss (718-859-5280) if you can bring something. Requested items include wine, soda, cheese,crackers, cookies, grapes, and other nibbles. Please help us make a nice end-of-year celebration. ❑

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETINGSunday, May 15, 2005 at 6 pm

CAMI Hall; 165 West 57th Street, New York City

The annual meeting of the New York Flute Club, Inc. will be held on Sunday,May 15, 2005 at 6:00 pm. At that time we will elect officers and members ofthe board of directors. All current members are eligible and encouraged to

attend and vote.The meeting will precede the spring ensemble concert which begins at 6:15

pm, featuring flutists who have participated in the NYFC ensemble program. Therewill be a reception following the meeting. ❑

2005 ANNUAL ENSEMBLE CONCERTIf your ensemble would like to play at the NYFC’s May 15 concert, please contactEnsemble Coordinator Rochelle Itzen immediately at 212-982-2703 (phone) oritzenflute@aol.com (email).

10 — NYFC Newsletter

worked hard at it, and I think it was agood performance. [Editor’s note:Frances played this on the CRI LP withFrederick Wilkins as soloist.]

Back to your career—I know you weren’tallowed to play in the New York Philhar-monic for a few decades after that initialbreakthrough as soloist under Barzin,and that after playing with Stokowski forthe opening of the Juilliard, he couldn’tget you into the Philadelphia Orchestra.How did you cope with that kind ofrejection?I remember Stokowski saying, “I wouldlike to take you to the PhiladelphiaOrchestra, but I would never get youpast the board of directors, and thewomen on the board would be the onesthat would fight you the most.” Amazing.

Why?[Laughs] When I was young, [women]didn’t like to [see] women as soloists.They wanted men. It was more interest-ing for them. I wouldn’t say I expectedit, but I was not surprised. But youknow, almost always in life, when onedoor closes, another opens. And therealways seemed to be something. Iplayed a lot of chamber music. I playeda lot of things with ensembles like theGordon Quartet, which was a recog-nized, fine quartet. I played at theLibrary of Congress with them. Therewas the New Opera Company. Therewere always interesting things to do.I never lacked for work.

How did you avoid becoming bitter, andnot lose your wonderful sense of humor,and contentment, and generosity?Well, I had no reason to be bitter at all!I had so many opportunities. I couldonly be grateful. Sometimes it wasdifficult, especially at the beginning.Very difficult. I remember when I wasfirst starting out. At first, after I’d playedthe solo with the Philharmonic, andanother with the National OrchestralAssociation, I had lots of opportunitiesbecause I was sort of a freak, andpeople couldn’t imagine a girl flutist….But then opportunities dried up. I toohad to earn my living. It was depressiontime, and my family couldn’t help memuch at all. So I got quite depressed,and I remember going with a friend onenight to see Porgy and Bess. And when I

heard that song, “I got plenty o’nuthin’,” it just…I don’t know why itspoke to me so much, but it justseemed to break the gloom! And Ithought, well I’ve got plenty of nuthin’,too! There was always so much goodaround me. And my mother was sosupportive…that was a big help, youknow, to have that support, always. So,I never was bitter.

You were married to [the late]Alexander Williams, first clarinetist ofthe Philharmonic….Yes. He was the assistant first when wewere married, and then he became first.Then he went to the NBC Symphony assolo clarinet with Toscanini for the lastten years of the orchestra. So we had awonderful life, and he especially, becausehe had no prejudice to fight, the way Idid. He was 18 when he went into theNew York Symphony with WalterDamrosch conducting, and from therehe went to the Philharmonic, and fromthere to NBC. So all his life, he playedthe best music with the best conductorsin the best halls with the best soloists inthe world. And as an orchestral musician,you can’t ask for more than that. And hethoroughly enjoyed it all. He adoredToscanini. For many, he was very disagree-able to work with, but Alex loved him.

How did you manage the “juggling” offamily and career?Well, that was hard, too, because I hadmet Alex when I was 18 and he was23, and he had a good job, and wantedto be married, and I didn’t want to bemarried. I’d been bitten by this careerbug, and I felt I couldn’t juggle both,unless I were well-established. And soI went on, and he’d get very muchannoyed, you know…. We would playa job together, and then we would starthaving dates again, and he’d say, “Let’sbe married now!” And I would say, “NoI’m not ready yet.” Finally, when I was25, he said, “I am going to ask you oncemore, and I’ll never ask you again.” SoI said, “All right. This time I’ll say yes.”

We’d been married about six yearsbefore Alexandra was born. I had achance to get used to the one rolebefore I added still another. When shewas only five months old, he wasdrafted. Ninety dollars a month fromthe government wasn’t enough to paythe rent in New York. But I soon got ashow, and there was a wonderful olderwoman in our apartment building (at116th Street and Riverside Drive), whocame down at seven o’clock everynight and sat there until I got home atmidnight, for a dollar each night. So itall worked out. I couldn’t have had acareer married to a businessman. Hewouldn’t have understood that I had toplay Christmas day, and holidays, andnights, and Sundays. But Alex, ofcourse, understood.

It was a little hard when I wasplaying the ballet [beginning in 1958/59], because we had eight perfor-mances a week and many rehearsals,and I had two children then—John wasthere. But I had Mondays off, so Iremember on Mondays I used to cooka roast or bake a ham or a turkey. So Ihad the nucleus of a meal, and then if Iwere teaching, I could just add a bakedpotato, and a vegetable or salad. So wehad dinner…and then I’d go off andplay the ballet. I would wait on thebridge until the train came in (we werenow living in Middletown, New Jersey)to make sure Alex got off it, becausethe children were alone in the house.And then as soon as I knew he hadcome home, I would drive the fiftymiles to New York. It’s amusing nowwhen I look back, but it didn’t always

This 1953 program included works of Loeillet, Handel,and Bach; the premiere of Anis Fuleiman’s Sonata forflute and cello, Debussy’s Syrinx, the Dutilleux Sonatine,and the Martinu Trio.

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seem that way. We worked at it, and itall worked out.

Let’s back up a moment and talk aboutyour career in the earlier years.In 1932 I started playing with the PhilSpitalny Girls’ Orchestra, and we hadthe General Electric Radio Show everySunday night on NBC, and that paid$29.70 a week. Thirty cents was takenout for Social Security, believe it or not.So that was the mainstay of my sup-port, and we played some vaudeville,but not a lot. But when we did, it was$72 a week more, and that was bigmoney in those days. Living was cheap.I paid six dollars a week for a room inNew York. I shared an apartment withthree other girls on 112th Street nearBroadway, and food was inexpensive.So it was easy to save money to go toEurope in the summer.

Then there were things like thejob at Radio City Music Hall. Theymade a beautiful gold lamé dress forme and I played five shows a day therefor two weeks. They wrote a speciallittle piece for me, and I stood at thevery back of the stage, and there weretwo Rockettes on either side of me—for decoration, I guess! There was aneight-bar intro when I was to walkfrom the back of the stage up to thefootlights…. And the first day, whenthat curtain opened, and I saw thatvast, enormous, tremendous audito-rium, all black, I just froze, absolutelyterrified, and one of these Rockettessaid, “Get going, kid, and smile.” And Idid both those things. [Laughs] After acouple of shows it was easy, of course,but I’ll never forget that experience. Ijust assumed I was walking into thecaverns of hell or something. It wasawful. [Laughs] That must have been1934 or ’35.

Then I did quite a little work in thestudio of Frank LaForge, I think thebest accompanist in New York. Hemainly played for Metropolitan Operasingers. And one day he said to me,“Lily Pons is coming here next week fora rehearsal. I am playing for her NewYork recital, and she needs a flutist.You come to that rehearsal, and if shelikes you, maybe she will want you toplay the recital.” And I played for herfor a number of years—all her NewYork recitals.

What was she like?She was just lovely…so beautiful. Shedidn’t even have to sing. She could juststand there, and the audience wouldhave gone wild, they loved her somuch. And she made such a beautifulpicture. But it was the hardest job Ithink I ever had, because you can’twait until you hear the voice. That’s toolate. [You have] to be in perfect syncwith the voice. So I memorized every-thing she did, things like the mad scenefrom Lucia, and just watched her verycarefully, because I could tell a littlebit, and anticipate what she was goingto do. I never had any problem. We didsome recording, too, and there is a CDstill available.

And then, I had a fascinatingexperience with the Bach Circle,organized by harpsichordist Yella Pessl.We gave wonderful concerts in TownHall. All these things took time, ofcourse, to rehearse, and I loved doingthat kind of playing. We played a lotof other places, too. We never wentfurther than Indianapolis. But we didsmall tours and we played in the NewJersey-New York area. And there wasthe New Opera Company, conductedby Fritz Busch; and the New Friendsof Music, organized by the president ofBloomingdale’s, whose wife wasHortense Monath, a pianist whosecareer he wanted to launch. We didmostly Mozart and Haydn symphonieswith [conductor] Fritz Stiedry. Almostall in the orchestra were refugees. Thiswas when so many were coming fromVienna. They were fine musicians, andplayed so well. Stiedry was verydemanding, but he did a great job.

And there were many, many smallchoral societies around the New Yorkarea, in New Jersey, Connecticut, andso on. I would play a group of solos attheir concert, and then an obbligatowith the choir. I did a lot of that. Neverpaid very much— $50, $75, somethinglike that. But…it was fun to do, goodto do. I had a lot of that. So you see,I had no trouble making a living, really.

Was it through Fred Wilkins that youlater got the job in the New York CityBallet Orchestra?Yes. We were great friends. We playedin the ballet together, and some in theopera. He was always very helpful. Whenthey needed another flute, [conductor]Hugo Fiorato said to Fred, “Why don’twe give one of the girls a chance?” Fredsaid, “Let’s take Frances.” I didn’t haveto audition. Soon after I joined, Fredgave up his position, and I became thefirst flute. At what was probably theheight of his career he’d met RichardBosse, who owned the Artley FluteCompany, and had gotten very muchinvolved helping them produce betterinstruments. Then he went to work forthem and toured the country as “Mr.Flute.” He used to give masterclasses allover, and they would have a whole setupof five flutes—a C-flute, a piccolo, altoand bass flutes, and an E� flute. Of coursethey wanted to sell those flutes…. Sohe did that, I think, most of his life.

Murray Panitz was the piccolo player,and Fred played second. (Panitz laterwent to Philadelphia to take Kincaid’splace.) So it was a great section, andwe were all wonderful friends, and hadsuch good times together [laughs]. Itwas lovely, you know, wonderful…thewhole ballet orchestra. Fiorato didn’tcare whether you were white or blackor yellow, and he had no prejudiceagainst women. There were a lot ofgirls in that orchestra.

What a varied and wonderful career!It’s been quite a ride!

Barbara Highton Williams is a freelanceflutist in Princeton, New Jersey, where shemaintains a private studio, and teaches atWestminster Conservatory. She thanks NancyToff and Alexandra Hawley for helpful back-ground and editorial assistance.

In February 1993, Frances Blaisdell spoke about her lifeand career at a standing-room-only concert of the NewYork Flute Club. She was introduced by then-presidentNancy Toff and special guest Jean-Pierre Rampal.

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Katherine Saenger (klsaenger@yahoo.com)

April 17, 2005 concert

2005 NYFC COMPETITION WINNERS

Greetings! Hope you all enjoyed the FluteFair last month! April brings us a concert by our 2005Young Artist winners: Sarah Yunji Moon (1st place),Sooyun Kim (2nd place), and Jessi Rosinski (3rd place).Interestingly (as you will find out if you read their front-page bios), all three are students at the New EnglandConservatory (as were two of last year’s winners).Congratulations to all!

The major portion of this newsletter issue is takenup by an interview of Frances Blaisdell by BarbaraWilliams. “The First Lady of the Flute” shares anecdotes

and reminiscences that illuminate several decades of New York musicalhistory as well as the pedagogic styles of some legendary flutists: ErnestWagner (her first professional teacher), Barrère, and Kincaid. I don’t thinkI will ever tire of hearing about Frances’ amazing Juilliard audition. Hersubsequent success in spite of the discrimination so many accepted aslegitimate left me newly in awe of her talent and determination, andgrateful for her example.

Katherine McClure is this month’s Member Profile subject, a NJ-basedflutist some of you may remember from Harvey Sollberger’s 65th birthdaytribute last year, when she performed Otto Luening’s “Three Canons” fortwo flutes with Sue Ann Kahn. Maybe I’d heard that work before, but itwas their performance that inspired me to buy the music (which, I amhappy to say, is fun to play and not excessively difficult).

All for now. Hope to see you at the concert.Best regards,

Sunday 5:30 pm • CAMI Hall, 165 W. 57th (across from Carnegie Hall)

The New York Flute Club Park West Finance Station P.O. Box 20613 New York, NY 10025-1515

From theEditor:

From theEditor

2004–2005 Concerts

85th SeasonOctober 24, 2004 • Sunday 5:30 pmBOREALIS WIND QUINTET

November 21, 2004 • Sunday 5:30 pmMARCO GRANADOS, fluteLatin American chamber music

December 12, 2004 • Sunday 5:30 pmKARL KRABER, fluteChamber music with piano and stringsAt CAMI Hall, 165 West 57th Street

January 30, 2005 • Sunday 5:30 pmCARLA REES, alto fluteContemporary music and Boehm transcriptions

February 20, 2005 • Sunday 5:30 pmSTEFAN HOSKULDSSON and ELIZAVETAKOPELMAN, flute and piano duoThe new Met Opera Orchestra flutist and his wife

March 12, 2005 • Saturday, All DayFLUTE FAIR 2005—THE BARRÈRE LEGACY:Leone Buyse, guest artist

April 17, 2005 • Sunday 5:30 pm2005 NYFC COMPETITION WINNERS

May 15, 2005 • Sunday, 6:00 pm2005 NYFC ANNUAL ENSEMBLE PROGRAM

Concerts are at CAMI Hall, 165 West 57th Street(across from Carnegie Hall), unless otherwise noted.All programs are subject to change. Tickets $10, onlyat the door; free to members. For more information,visit the NYFC website at www.nyfluteclub.org or call(212)799-0448.