Internationally renowned flutists Deirdre Manning and Nora Lee García-Velázquez are collaborating on two unique workshops. This summer, they are offering weeklong experiences in the foothills of the French Pyrenees and in the quaint lobstering village of Winter Harbor. Participants will spend a week of intensive study with classically trained flutists including McArdle-Manning and García in private lessons as well as master classes.
In June, they will direct “Fall in Love with Your Flute Again” at the Bordeneuve Artist and Writer’s Retreat and the Chateau Castelbon. Nestled in a lush, secluded river valley, the workshop includes training for the advanced flutist, as well as yoga classes, cooking classes and a glimpse of local life.
In August, McArdle-Manning and García will appear with other world-class musicians at the Fourth Annual Winter Harbor Music Festival at Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park, where the pounding Atlantic surf meets the rockbound coast of Maine. In addition to group sessioins and private lessons, participants are offered performance opportunities with distinguished faculty in historic Hammond Hall.
Deirdre McArdle-Manning is described by New York Times critic Tim Page as “a virtuosic flutist with an unusually full and lustrous tone.” Deirdre is founder of the Winter Harbor Music Festival, and artistic director of the Alexander Buono International Flute Competition and Festival. She has performed to critical acclaim in solo recital at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in NYC and Wigmore Hall, London and has served on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, Bowdoin College and Long Island Conservatory. Deirdre is a member of the World Civic Orchestra, the Nova Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the 92nd St. Y.
Nora Lee García-Velázquez is one of the most highly regarded flutists in the concert world today. A Powell Flutes Artist and Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida, she appears throughout the United States, Europe, and South America as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. A frequent performer for the National Flute Association, she has also appeared at the Monterrey Flute Festival in Mexico, the Peru Flute Festival and the Chile Frutillar Encuentro de Flauta del Sur del Mundo. She participated as a judge for the 2006 International Flute Competition in Mexico City and the 2006 Chamber Music Competition for the National Flute Association. Currently she is the principal flute of the Bach Festival Orchestra inf Winter Park, Florida and the Florida Chamber Orchestra.