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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 8th ANNUAL NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY SUMMER METROPOLITAN FLUTE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
July, 23-26, 2009
Each year, on the last Sunday of July, The Metropolitan Flute Orchestra presents a concert on the final day of the annual New England Conservatory Summer Metropolitan Flute Orchestra Festival. For 2009, the 8th annual festival was held July 23-26, with a 5:00pm concert on July 26th, in New England Conservatory’s renowned Jordan Hall. On this concert the ensemble performed works by Bach, Gounod, Offermans, Awano, Casterede, Hager, Martin and Mozart, assisted by harpist Greta Asgeirsson and percussionists Kristjan Asgeirsson and Elizabeth Kuhn. The festival attracts flutists from New England, throughout the United States, as well as from France, Japan, Israel and Mexico. From students to professional flutists, including composers and arrangers, the festival is a wonderful opportunity to perform fabulous flute orchestra works with flutists from many interesting places.
In August 2009, the select ensemble from the Metropolitan Flute Orchestra headed to New York City and performed during the National Flute Association Convention on August 14. In addition, flutists from the Metropolitan Flute Orchestra and the Florida Flute Orchestra were invited to perform live in Times Square during a FOX TV live shoot with Sir James Galway.
In late July 2008, after completing the 2008 New England Conservatory Metropolitan Flute Orchestra Festival, the Metropolitan Flute Orchestra headed to Ireland. The MET’s Irish Tour was a huge success, with concerts in Bantry Bay, Kinsale and Kylemore Abbey. In Kinsale, the ensemble joined together with 10 flutists in the Cork area to present the final half of their performance at the historic St. Moltose Church dating back to the 11th century. With a wide and varied concert program, the ensemble performed Lisa LeMay’s beautiful work Innes Glas Mor. This piece, inspired by the composer’s trip to Ireland, consists of three movements. The second movement, entitled Kylemore Abbey, musically describes the beautiful abbey located in Ireland’s rugged Connemara region. Kylemore Abbey is the monastic home of the Benedictine Nuns. Several of the nuns were present for our concert, as we performed LeMay’s Kylemore Abbey in the Neo-Gothic Chapel on the grounds of Kylemore Abbey. Performing to a standing room only audience, it was an amazing musical experience for all to perform this work with the people, chapel and country that inspired the beautiful music.
For information about the Metropolitan Flute Orchestra and the 9th Annual New England Conservatory Summer Metropolitan Flute Orchestra Festival, please contact director Paige Long at contraflute@msn.com or follow the prompts for Summer School Institutes and Intensives at www.necmusic.edu