Flutist Linda Chesis founder and artistic director of the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival, has been hailed by critics on three continents as one of the most exciting and dynamic flutists of her generation. She has frequently collaborated with such renowned artists as Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, James Levine and the late Jean-Pierre Rampal and has performed with orchestras and in solo recitals throughout the US, Europe and Asia.

The top prize winner at the Paris and Barcelona International Competitions, and at the National Flute Association Competition, Ms. Chesis has been the recipient of many awards including a Solo Recitalist’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She has been the subject of numerous television and radio broadcasts, and her performances can be regularly heard on American Public Media's Performance Today.

Ms. Chesis has been a guest artist at many chamber music festivals including the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, Bravo! Colorado, An Appalachian Summer, and Music from Angel Fire. She has also performed with the American, Borromeo, Mendelssohn, Chiara, and Daedalus string quartets, among others.

Linda Chesis graduated magna cum laude from Yale College with a BA in History of Art. She subsequently received the Premier Prix from the Paris Conservatory. Ms. Chesis is a professor of flute and chamber music at Manhattan School of Music and has been chair of the Woodwind Department there since 1988. She has offered master classes at universities, conservatories, and for flute associations around the globe. Her recordings can be heard on the EMI, Nonesuch, and Music Masters labels.