World Sonata Project: Flute

brook ellen ferguson
flute

Hailed by the Washington Post as “brilliantly virtuosic,” flutist Brook Ferguson is a versatile solo and orchestral artist. The Miami Herald praised Ferguson’s performance of Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for Flute with the New World Symphony as “soaring, fraught with emotion, possessing sterling technique with pure tone, showing herself fully in synch with Nielsen’s enigmatic world, putting across the playfulness, passing shadows and sheer strangeness of this music with strong impact.”

First prize winner of the 2009 National Flute Association Young Artist Competition, Ferguson has performed as a concerto soloist with the Colorado Symphony, the New World Symphony, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She has appeared at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival, Marlboro Music Festival and Tanglewood Music Center—as both an orchestral fellow and New Fromm Player. Ferguson was appointed Principal Flutist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in 2010 and has been Principal Flutist of the innovative River Oaks Chamber Orchestra since 2012.

Previously, she completed a three-year fellowship with the New World Symphony, where she had the privilege of working with Michael Tilson Thomas and many other great musicians and conductors. She has made Principal appearances with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Chamber Symphony and Festival Orchestra, Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Prior to her appointment with the New World Symphony, Ferguson was the Acting Principal Flutist of the Knoxville Symphony and the Principal Flutist of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. Ferguson is a William S. Haynes Company Artist.

In 2013, Ferguson was a featured soloist on Jacques Ibert’s Concerto for Flute with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Douglas Boyd. An enthusiastic performer of new music, she performed Michael Gandolfi’s Geppetto’s Workshop multiple times in Jordan Hall at the composer’s invitation and gave the Tanglewood premiere of his Three Pieces for Solo Flute. Her performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra was commercially released on Yarlung Records and her live performance of David Amram’s Red River Valley Variations is available on the Newport Classic LTD label. Other notable solo and concerto performances were at the National Flute Convention of Japan and at festivals in China, Russia, Chile, Brasil, Ecuador and Qatar. A dedicated teacher, Ferguson encourages her students to cultivate strong and imaginative interpretations, guides them toward a deeper understanding of self-reliant problem solving and helps them to develop physical and mental self-awareness.

Currently, Ferguson is a Professor of Flute at the University of Northern Colorado and founded the Bel Canto Flute Academy- hosting community performance events for flutists of all ages and abilities: http:// www.belcantoflutes.com. Brook has given master classes and performances at Carnegie Mellon University, Peabody Conservatory, CU Boulder, the Aspen Music Festival and the New World Symphony. Ferguson received her Master of Music from Carnegie Mellon University as a student of Jeanne Baxtresser and Alberto Almarza and her Bachelor of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Institute studying with the Marina Piccinini. Other important teachers and influences are Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Paula Robison and Michael Tilson Thomas.

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