International flute icon Alexa Still, Associate Professor of Flute at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, will visit Delta State University on Monday, March 25, 2013. During her visit, she will perform a recital at 7:30 in the Recital Hall in the Bologna Performing Arts Center. She will also give a master class for the Department of Music and will work with flute students of Dr. Shelley Collins, DSU’s Associate Professor of Flute. Distinguished as a performer and teacher, and for her collaborations with an array of celebrated musicians, composers, and conductors, Still is known internationally for her many recordings on the Koch International Classics label. She has been described as: “impeccable in technique and taste, seductive in phrasing” (Stephensen Classical CD Guide). “Still plays… so convincingly I cannot separate her from the music” (American Record Guide), “whatever she plays sounds musical in every turn of the phrase” (Gramophone), “a stunning showcase for the astonishing Alexa Still” (Fanfare).
A New Zealander, Still’s graduate study was in New York (SUNY Stony Brook). She then won principal flute of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the age of 23. While home, she received a Churchill Fellowship and a Fulbright award. In 1998, she left the NZSO to become Associate Professor of Flute at University of Colorado at Boulder. She then moved to Sydney in 2006, where she became Professor of Flute and Director of Performance research at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She began in her new position at Oberlin Conservatory in 2011.
A luminary in the flute world, Still is in demand the world over for her teaching in addition to her performances. She has presented master classes and lectures across Europe and the United States, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Slovenia, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, China, and Korea. Her 13th solo compact disc (concertos including the Pied Piper Fantasy) was released in September 2004 to unanimous acclaim: “Anyone who doubts Still’s dumbfounding technical ability or complete tonal control should hear these… You just won’t hear better-sustained flute playing on disc than this” (Fanfare Magazine). Alexa’s 14th CD was released in January 2008 (music for flute and piano with New York-based English pianist Stephen Gosling. “Reviewers far and wide agree that Alexa Still doesn’t make anything sound tough. She gracefully sprints and hurdles through menacing challenges without seeming to break a sweat. Added to this technical superiority comes an equally superior sensitive musical side. This disc isn’t just flautistic fireworks” (Sequenza21).
Dr. Still’s recital is free and open to the public. For more information about the recital, contact the Department of Music at 846-4615.
