The Chicago Flute Club announces our 2011 Flute Festival taking place on Veteran's Day Weekend 2011 at the Hilton Orrington in Evanston, Illinois. All events and concerts will take place at the hotel.

Highlights

Concert by Jim Walker and Free Flight

Saturday Evening and Sunday Afternoon Headliner Concerts

Workshops and Masterclasses

• Improvisation Workshop with Jim Walker
• Masterclass with Michael Parloff (application)
• Open Workshop with Keith Underwood
• World Music Concert and Demonstration
• Contemporary Techniques with Shanna Gutierrez
• Flute Choir Reading Session
• "Warm Up for Tomorrow" with Patricia George
• Contemporary Music Concert
• Electro-Acoustic Music with Rebecca Ashe
• High School Masterclass with Angeleita Floyd (application)

Presenters and Performers
Monty Adams, Shaul Ben-Meir, Bickford Brannen, Cavatina Duo, Julie Koidin, Lyon Leifer, Leonard Lopatin, Teresa Muir, Timothy Munro, Florence Nelson, Jim Phelan, Kim Sopata, and Constance Volk.

Performances

• CFC Festival Flute Choir
• Flute Choirs from around the country
• Annual Student Competition Final Round
• Solo Artist Competition Final Round

Awards Banquet & Celebration

Hilton Orrington, Evanston
Friday, November 11, 2011, 7:00 pm
Cocktails at 6:00 pm, cash bar
$59 per person

Kick-off the Festival weekend with an evening of dinner and entertainment celebrating the achievements of Mary Louise Poor and Bickford Brannen. To order tickets to the banquet, please use the Festival Registration Form.

One of the most exciting parts of our 2011 CFC Flute Festival is visiting the Exhibits to try flutes of all sizes, discover a new piece of music, meet one of our knowledgeable repair technicians, or purchase a new accessory. Stop by the 9th floor of the Hilton Orrington 9:00-6:00 Saturday & 9:00-3:00 Sunday.

As of October 1, the following companies plan to exhibit:

• Abell Flute Company
• Altus Flutes
• Brannen Brothers Flutemakers, Inc.
• Burkart Flutes and Piccolos
• Conn-Selmer, Inc.
• Di Zhao Flutes
• Drelinger Headjoint Company, Inc.
• The Flute Enterprise
• Flute Specialists
• Flute World, Inc.
• Frederick Harris Music
• Gemeinhardt Musical Instruments, LLC
• Eugene S. Gordon Woodwinds
• Martin Gordon Flutes
• Tom Green Flutes, Inc.
• The Green Golly Project
• Bernard Hammig Flutes
• William S. Haynes Co.
• Keefe Piccolo Co.
• Kober Instrument Repairs
• Little Piper
• Lopatin Flute Company
• Miyazawa Flutes
• Muramatsu America
• Nagahara Flutes / NNI, Inc.
• Pearl Corporation
• Verne Q. Powell Flutes, Inc.
• Professional Suite by Royalton Music Center
• Sankyo Flutes USA
• Straubinger Flutes, Inc.
• Trevor James Flutes
• Yamaha Corporation of America

Jim Walker
Few other flutists in history have made such indelible marks in so many musical circles. From jazz to pop to classical, television to film to the concert hall, Jim Walker has never met a crowd that didn't love his powerful, "stand and deliver" performances.

A star was born in 1969, when Jim was named Associate Principal Flute in the Pittsburgh Symphony after a stint playing in the US Military Academy Band at West Point. He quickly gained the admiration of colleagues and audiences in Pittsburgh and set his sights on Principal Flute jobs. After eight years he won the Principal Flute position in the Los Angeles Philharmonic and never looked back.

To be Principal Flute of a major orchestra is to sit at the pinnacle of the profession. Most flutists who reach that height are content to spend the rest of their careers there, but Jim but Jim felt an eagerness and aspiration to move his music-making forward yet again. After seven successful seasons of performing, recording, and touring with the Los Angeles Philharmonic—during which time the New York Philharmonic briefly borrowed him as Principal Flute for their 1982 South American tour—Jim left the orchestra, diving off the mountaintop into the world of jazz and studio recording.

Jazz had been one of Jim's puppy loves, and he was inspired to get back to it by LA's lively club scene. After a few years of avid listening in dives, gaining confidence undercover in the practice room, he organized his jazz quartet Free Flight. Flute, piano, bass, and drums playing jazz-classical fusion, Free Flight took the music world by storm. Jim's unique combination of vision and determination pushed the group to multiple appearances on the Tonight Show and the Today Show and brought them a number one record (Slice of Life). By the time Jean-Pierre Rampal—the granddaddy of modern classical flutists—called "Jimmy" his "favorite jazz flute player" in the 1990's, Jim was a bona fide jazz flute superstar.

Life has been equally good for Jim Walker in LA's famed studio scene. He has been a first-call studio flutist for the better part of two decades, and his bold, expressive playing can be heard on hundreds of soundtracks and commercial recordings. His playing has become the gold standard from Hollywood to Carnegie Hall and has unlocked the door to studio and concert collaborations with everyone from John Williams and Paul McCartney—"the thrill of a lifetime," says Jim—to Leonard Bernstein, James Galway, and the LA Guitar Quartet.

After all the reviews have been written and the stage and studio lights dim, however, Jim has said that the one aspect of his career he could maintain to the grave is teaching. He has been filling his students' lives with music for four decades now, just as his own parents—Bob, a jazz clarinetist and public school band director, and Barbara, a church organist—filled his upbringing in Greenville, Kentucky, with piano and flute lessons. He went on to become a graduate and "Distinguished Alumnus" of the University of Louisville as well as the University's first "Alumni Fellow" from the School of Music. To this day Jim credits a parade of flute teachers with helping him rise through the ranks, from Sarah Fouse and Francis Fuge in Kentucky to the Metropolitan Opera's Harold Bennett, the Philadelphia Orchestra's James Pellerite, and internationally renowned flutist and conductor Claude Monteux.

Jim's gratitude to his teachers is returned to him by his students. As Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of Flute Studies at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music and Instructor of Flute and Chamber Music at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, Jim devotes at least twenty hours a week to steering the careers of young flutists. Before coming to Los Angeles, Jim's teaching career included positions at Duquesne University, Carnegie-Mellon, and the University of Pittsburgh, and since arriving in Southern California he has been invited to be visiting professor at the University of North Texas, the University of Texas-Austin, and Arizona State University.

Jim has taught hundreds of flutists at these terrific institutions. Many of them have gone on to successful orchestral careers, holding Principal Flute chairs in major symphonies from Phoenix to Boston to Beijing. Still others have careers in fields as varied as gospel music and arts administration. Jim is not interested in simply training musicians; he inspires each pupil as a whole person, and students leave his tutelage feeling empowered, reaching for the stars. With such a legacy, it is no wonder that students on four continents have flocked to hear his recitals and master classes. Jim's creativity allows him to reach not only these students but also others he never sees with his editions of flute masterworks on the Alfred Music Publications Young Artist Series. He is also completing a set of flute method books filled with unique, fun, highly instructional exercises so that future generations can continue to benefit from his wealth of knowledge and generosity.

Dynamic soloist, legendary orchestral and studio musician, celebrated jazz flutist, and an inspiration to countless students worldwide, Jim Walker is living proof that with enough creativity and determination, anyone can reach the stars. He is a living legend, and a true Renaissance Man of the Flute.

Learn more at www.jimwalkerflute.com

Mary Louise Poor
Mary Louise Poor is an internationally known flutist and teacher who has concertized in Paris, Salzburg, Rome, Siena, New Delhi, Katmandu, Taiwan and mainland China as well as the United States including two Carnegie Recital Hall programs. She is a holder of a Bachelor of Music degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan. Further study includes Conservatiore Americain in Fountainbleau, France; Musicaglia Chigiana in Siena, Italy; Mozarteum and Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria. She is the founder of the Health Care Committee of the National Flute Association and served as coordinator of the group for many years. Currently Ms. Poor is teaching at Union University in Jackson, TN, as well as maintaining a private studio.

Conducted by Shaul Ben-Meir, the Orchestra is open to CFC members and their advanced students. Sign up to participate in this orchestra by submitting the Festival Registration Form.

Shaul Ben-Meir is former flutist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. In 1962 he was awarded the Silver Medal at the International Wind Competition in Helsinki , Finland . He was principal flutist of the Haifa Symphony, under Sergiu Comissiona from 1961 until he was invited to the US as Visiting Professor of Music at Ithaca College in 1965. Mr. Ben-Meir is the founder and music director of the Michigan Flute Orchestra and widely recognized for his transcriptions and arrangements of symphonic repertoire for the flute orchestra medium.

Evanston, Illinois is home to Northwestern University. It boasts a vibrant downtown and a beautiful lakefront setting.

Thirty minutes away, downtown Chicago claims the distinction of the nation's #1 destination for business travelers. Chicago boasts 29 miles of breathtaking lakefront, 22 miles of bike paths, 33 public beaches, 5,500 restaurants, 200 live theaters, Lincoln Park Zoo, Navy Pier, Millennium Park, The Art Institute, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera, the Adler Planetarium, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and miles of magnificent shopping.

If you are interested in taking a lesson with these flutists while they are in town for the festival, please contact them privately:

• Michael Parloff
• Keith Underwood
• Mary Louise Poor
• Angeleita Floyd