Saturday, April 4, 2009 from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm
Bliss Hall, Youngstown State University

Marianne Gedigian, Flute
Special Guest Artist

The Flute Festival registration begins at 8:30 am.  The day will include a full recital, two-hour masterclass, and lecture with Ms. Gedigian.  A junior-high masterclass will be offered as well as the popular flute ensemble reading sessions.  The lunchtime concert will feature local ensembles and there will be a flute choir concert featuring the Dana Flute Ensemble and other area flute choirs. Exhibitors from around the country (Volkwein’s, Flute Specialists, J. L. Smith, Motter’s Music and more) will have booths offering flutes, music, and flute-related items for sale throughout the day.  Whether you are a flutist of any age or perhaps just a flute-enthusiast, the 16th Dana Flute Festival promises a fun day not to be missed!

For more information, contact Dr. Kathryn Thomas Umble at the Dana School of Music: 330-941-1831 or email kaumble@ysu.edu.  Please see schedule and mail-in registration form below.  Parking will be available in the Wick parking deck (M-1) directly south of Bliss Hall.  Please ask at the gate for a guest parking pass for the Flute Festival.  The Dana Flute Festival is sponsored by Volkwein’s, the Friends of Music, the Dana School of Music, and Youngtown State University’s College of Fine and Performing Arts.

Schedule of Events

About the Artists

Marianne Gedigian, Special Guest Artist

Marianne Gedigian, Associate Professor of Flute at The University of Texas at Austin, was a regular performer with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for over a decade, including several seasons as Guest Principal Flute under Seiji Ozawa. As Principal Flute with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and Guest Principal Flute with the Boston Pops, Ms. Gedigian has been heard on dozens of recordings and Evening at Pops television broadcasts as well as the nationally broadcast Fourth of July specials. She has also been heard on several John Williams’ movie scores, including Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. In the 2000 – 2001 season, Ms. Gedigian was invited by Mariss Jansons to perform as Acting Principal Flute with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Her solo performances have taken her around the world, including concerts in Japan, Australia, and Armenia and she has appeared as concerto soloist numerous times with the Boston Pops Orchestra and with the Armenian Philharmonic performing her own transcription of the Khachaturian Violin Concerto. She was featured with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame in a performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Ms. Gedigian has been first prizewinner in the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition, and the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition. She keeps an active schedule as a chamber musician as a founding member of the Boston-based Walden Chamber Players and was formerly a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet. Her solo recordings include Voice of the Flute and Revolution, both with pianist Rick Rowley.
Ms. Gedigian has served on the faculties of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, The Boston Conservatory, Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute and the Round Top Institute

Brianne Olsen has been a prizewinner in the National Flute Association’s Orchestral Audition Competition and the Frank Bowen Competition and in 2008 she was the winner of the Central Ohio Flute Association Young Artist Competition. Brianne is in her fourth season playing with City Music Cleveland. This innovative chamber orchestra provides free concerts to the greater Cleveland area in order to bring classical music to those who are unfamiliar with the genre.
She has had the opportunity to study with many great flutists, including Walfrid Kujala and Richard Graef at Northwestern University and Trevor Wye in Kent, England. She was the recipient of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship and the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship, which provided for her two years of study in England. Brianne and her husband Torin Olsen have just finished recording their first CD of flute duets.

In 2007, Torin Olsen played the world premier of the Todd Goodman “Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra” with the McKeesport Symphony. He has also performed the Vivaldi “Concerto in C Major for piccolo and orchestra” with the Duquesne Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his solo work, Torin has played with the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and Opera Western Reserve. His many wonderful teachers include, Jim Walker at the University of Southern California and Damian Bursill-Hall at Duquesne University as well as Robert Langevin of the New York Philharmonic and Geralyn Coticone of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He competed at the 2006 National Flute Association Convention in the Piccolo Artist Competition. Torin often plays chamber music with his wife Brianne Olsen, with whom he has just recorded their first CD.

Kathryn Thomas Umble, festival coordinator, is assistant professor of flute at Youngstown State University and has served on the faculties of Bowling Green State University and Grove City College. Dr. Umble holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Bowling Green State University, and Michigan State University and was awarded the Prix d’excellence for Outstanding Musicianship from the Fontainebleau School of Music, France, which she attended on full scholarship.
In addition to performing principal flute with the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, Umble holds the piccolo position with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and has performed principal flute with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. She has presented recitals in Europe and throughout the United States, including venues such as Alice Tully Hall and Symphony Space, New York, and the Milhaud Society at the Cleveland Institute of Music with members of the Cleveland Orchestra. Among her performances last season, Kathryn Umble was featured guest artist of the Pittsburgh Flute Club, concerto soloist with Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, guest artist in recital with the Aurista Ensemble in New York City and performed in recital at the 2008 National Flute Association Convention.
Dr. Umble has also served as a National Flute Association competition judge and flute pedagogy panel member. She conducted the Dana Flute Ensemble in a full concert performance at the 2005 OMEA Conference and the 2006 National Flute Association Convention. The Dana Flute Ensemble will be performing at the 2009 National Flute Association Convention in New York City.