Woodbridge Flute Choir to play Irish music and introduce scholarship winner March 13

The Woodbridge Flute Choir (WFC) will present “A Touch of Irish,”  on Sunday, March 13, at 3 p.m. at Greenwich Presbyterian Church in Nokesville.  Admission is free.

The concert will feature Katherine Grischow, the winner of the WFC’s annual High School Concerto Scholarship Competition.  She will perform Poem by Charles T. Griffes with the Flute Choir. A junior at Northern Nash High School, Nashville, NC. Grischow studies with Beth Kupsco.  She will receive a scholarship award of $500 to be used toward her music studies.

Grischow is involved in the band program under the direction of Kyler Zary and is a drum major of the Northern Nash Marching Knights.  She has participated in North Carolina’s All-State, All-District, and All-County honors bands and has also attended festivals and summer camps, including Carolina Band Festival and Cannon Music Camp.  She is also a member of the Raleigh Area Flute Association, where she takes part in the flute choir as well as the annual review and contest.

The concert will feature original works written for flute choir and inspired by Irish music such as Innes Glas Mor by Lisa LeMay, By Kells Waters by Kelly Via, Mystic Wind by Ken Kreuzer, and Fantasia and Variations by John Buckley. 

The choir will also perform Fanfare 42 by John W. N. Palmer, She Flutters Me by Jonathan Cohen, Mission San Miguel by Larry Cansler, Mock Morris by Percy Grainger, arranged by Claudia Bissett and the favorite Irish tune Danny Boy arranged by Victoria Jicha.

The Woodbridge Flute Choir, directed by Debbie Gilbert and assisted by Lisa Sheldone, has 25 members who play flute, piccolo, alto flute, bass flute and contrabass flute.  Since its inception in 1996, the WFC has presented a regular concert series in Northern Virginia and has performed at charitable and gala events, Flute Society of Washington events, and flute choir festivals.

The Choir has performed at the Kennedy Center and the White House, and at the 2011 and 2013 National Flute Association Conventions.

As part of its mission to educate its members and the Washington area flute community, the Choir has sponsored masterclasses and performed with internationally acclaimed flutists such as Per Oien, John Barcellona, Tadeu Coelho, Chris Potter, Alexa Still, Thomas Robertello, Aaron Goldman, and piccolo soloist Nan Raphael.

In recognition of the need for new music written specifically for flute choir, the WFC has commissioned and presented world premieres of original works by Gretchen Morse, Nancy Wood, Lee Larsen, Mel Lauf, Jonathan Cohen, Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda, Russell Nadel, and Greg Lutz. 

The group has produced four commercial CDs - Butterfly, Woodbridge Suite, Passages and A Silver Christmas. All are available for download either on CD Baby, iTunes, or through amazon.com.

For more information about the choir, its upcoming concerts and its recordings, go to http://www.woodbridgeflutechoir.org.

Debbie Gilbert, the artistic director, resides in Broad Run, Virginia near Warrenton and holds a B.M.E. from Louisiana State University. She has taught private flute lessons to youth and adults for over 25 years. She is currently the principal flutist with the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra and a seven-time winner in the National Flute Association’s annual Professional Flute Choir Competition. Currently she serves as president of the board of directors of the Flute Society of Washington.

More information about the Woodbridge Flute Choir and its 2015-2016 season may be found at http://www.woodbridgeflutechoir.org.

Concert is generously sponsored by NOVEC (Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative). Woodbridge Flute Choir is also supported in part by funding from Heritage Financial Wealth Management and Prince William County Parks and Recreation