Ms. Linda Chesis
Telephone 212-749-2802 x7645
E-mail lchesis@aol.com
Linda Chesis, flutist, since her sold-out debut at Carnegie Hall, has toured Belgium, Great Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Korea, and Japan, where she was praised for her “elegance, charm and fresh exuberant style.” Her frequent New York appearances include premieres of works by Philip Glass and Steve Reich with the Solisti New York and a recital appearance with Jean-Pierre Rampal and Julius Baker at Avery Fisher Hall. She has collaborated in numerous recitals with soprano Jessye Norman and has been a soloist with the Houston and North Carolina symphonies, among others. A former student of Rampal, Ms. Chesis is one of the few Americans to ever receive the Premier Prix du Flûte from the Paris Conservatory. She received top awards in Barcelona and Paris international flute competitions, and a first prize from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is a founding member of the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble and the Chesis/Cutler flute and harp duo. In addition to serving on the flute and chamber music faculties, Ms. Chesis currently chairs the woodwind department at Manhattan School of Music and has recorded for the EMI, Nonesuch, and Pickwick labels.
Manhattan School of Music College faculty since 1986.
Mr. Robert Langevin
Telephone (212) 749-2802 x7909
With the start of the 2000–2001 season, Robert Langevin joined the New York Philharmonic as principal flute, in the Lila Acheson Wallace Chair. Most recently, Mr. Langevin held the Jackman Pfouts principal flute chair of the Pittsburgh Symphony and was an adjunct professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Prior to his appointment to the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mr. Langevin served as associate principal of the Montreal Symphony for thirteen years, playing on more than thirty recordings. As a member of Musica Camerata Montreal and L'Ensemble de la Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec, he helped premiere many works, including the Canadian premiere of Pierre Boulez's Le Marteau sans maître. In addition, Mr. Langevin has performed as soloist with Quebec’s most distinguished ensembles and has recorded many recitals and chamber music programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He also served on the faculty of the university of Montreal for nine years.
Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Mr. Langevin began studying flute at age twelve and joined the local orchestra three years later. While studying with Jean-Paul Major at the Montreal Conservatory of Music, he started working in recording studios, where he accompanied a variety of artists of different styles. He graduated in 1976 with two first prizes: one in flute and the other in chamber music. Not long after that, he won the prestigious Prix d'Europe, a national competition open to all instruments with a first prize of a two-year scholarship to study in Europe. This enabled him to work with Aurèle Nicolet at the Staatlich Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, where he graduated in 1979. He then went on to study with Maxence Larrieu in Geneva, winning second prize at the Budapest International Competition in 1980.
In addition to Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Langevin is currently on the faculties of The Juilliard School and the Orford International Summer Festival.
Manhattan School of Music faculty member since 2001.
Ms Marya Martin
Telephone (212) 749-2802 x7873
Internationally acclaimed flutist Marya Martin has enjoyed a musical career of remarkable breadth and achievement, gracefully balancing the roles of chamber musician, festival director, soloist, teacher, and supporter of musical institutions. She has performed throughout the world in such halls as London’s Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Casals Hall in Tokyo, and other venues in Paris, New Zealand, and Australia.
A native of New Zealand, Ms. Martin came to the U.S. in 1976 on a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant to pursue a Masters degree with Thomas Nyfenger at Yale University, and shortly thereafter moved to Paris to study with master flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal at the Nationale Superieur Conservatoire de Paris, also traveling to Lucerne, Switzerland for lessons with the legendary Sir James Galway. After becoming the only flutist ever to win top prizes in the Naumburg Competition, Munich International Competition, Jean-Pierre Rampal International Competition, Concert Artists Guild Competition, and Young Concert Artists International Competition– all within a two-year period – Ms. Martin returned to the U.S. in 1980 to make her New York debut and has since appeared as a soloist with major orchestras throughout the US and at leading summer music festivals and chamber music series.
Ms. Martin is the founder and Artistic Director of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, a month-long festival involving 40 musicians from all over the world, now celebrating its 26th season. Reflecting her commitment to new music and widening the flute repertoire, she has commissioned and performed more than 22 new works, bringing many of them to the wider public through world premiere recordings. Her recent releases include world premiere recordings of Eric Ewazen’s Flute Concerto (New World) and works by Paul Moravec (Naxos) and Ned Rorem (New World). She has previously recorded for the Naxos, New World, Albany records, Arabesque, Musical Heritage Society, Orion, and Kiwi Pacific labels, among others.
Dedicated to fostering the talents of young musicians, Ms. Martin has been a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music since 1996. She was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Auckland in 2005, and has given master classes at leading conservatories and music departments throughout the U.S. and New Zealand. She has served on the Boards of Young Concert Artists and the Miller Institute at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, and frequently serves as a jurist in leading international competitions. Her most recent commissioning, performing, and recording project, Eight Visions, brings her lifelong advocacy of contemporary music into a new realm with the publication of this collection.
Manhattan School of Music faculty since 1996.
Mr. Michael Parloff
Telephone (212) 749-2802 x7779
E-mail Parlance2@aol.com
Principal Flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra from 1977 until his retirement in 2008, Michael Parloff has been heard regularly as recitalist and concerto soloist throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. In recent seasons his New York City appearances have included solo recitals at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, concerto appearances at Carnegie Hall and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and chamber music performances at The Mostly Mozart Festival, The Morgan Library and with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Mr. Parloff opened the MET Orchestra's 2002 Carnegie Hall concert season with a performance of Carl Nielsen's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra under the direction of James Levine. He has collaborated in New York City chamber music concerts with such noted artists as James Levine, Jessye Norman, James Galway, Peter Serkin, Dawn Upshaw, Thomas Hampson, Jaime Laredo, and the Emerson String Quartet.
Highly respected as a teacher and coach, Michael Parloff has presented masterclasses at major conservatories and university music schools in the United States and abroad. Mr. Parloff has been associated with the Marlboro Music Festival since the mid-1980s. In recent seasons he has taught at Tanglewood, the National Orchestral Institute, and the Colorado College Music Festival. He has been a faculty member of Manhattan School of Music since 1985.
Mr. Parloff has recorded extensively with the Metropolitan Opera for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, London, and Philips. He has recorded 20th Century chamber music for Gunmar, CRI, and Koch. His solo CD The Flute Album (ESS.A.Y CD1027) surveys 200 years of classic repertoire for the instrument.
Michael Parloff is Music Director of Parlance Chamber Concerts in Ridgewood, NJ (www.ParlanceChamberConcerts.org). He also maintains an association with the Metropolitan Opera, organizing a series of salon chamber concerts featuring members of the Met Orchestra in the homes of major Met patrons. In addition, since 1996 he has presented over 25 benefit concerts for various nonprofit organizations and humanitarian causes in Northern Bergen County, New Jersey.
Michael Parloff's annotated volume, Opera Excerpts for Flute, published by Theodore Presser Company in 2000, was a top prizewinner in The National Flute Association's 2001 Newly-Published Music Competition.
Tara O'Connor
Flutist Tara O’Connor is a charismatic performer known for her unusual artistic depth, brilliant technique, and colorful tone in music of every era as well as for her masterly readings of her huge repertoire of new works. In March 2001 she was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. This prestigious award has been given to only a small handful of wind soloists in its twenty-five-year history. Ms. O’Connor is a founding member of the 1995 Naumburg Award–winning New Millennium Ensemble and is the flute soloist of the world-renowned Bach Aria Group. She was the first wind player to be chosen to participate in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s program for emerging artists, Chamber Music Society Two. Ms. O’Connor performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus, Bargemusic, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and Music from Angel Fire and has been featured on the A&E cable channel’s Breakfast with the Arts. Ms. O’Connor has recorded for Arcadia, CRI, Koch International, and Bridge Records. This season’s highlights include performances with Jaime Laredo, Peter Serkin, and Paula Robison. She received a doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is professor of flute at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music. An avid photographer, she has photo credits in Time Out, Strad, and Chamber Music America magazines. Ms. O’Connor joined Windscape in the fall of 2002.
Manhattan School of Music faculty since 2002.
