People who play Burkart

Solo piccolo and flutist Mindy Kaufman joined the New York Philharmonic in 1979 at the age of 22, after performing for three seasons with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She received a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Walfrid Kujala, Bonita Boyd, and James Galway.

Ms. Kaufman has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of former Music Directors Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, and Lorin Maazel. For one season she substituted as principal flute with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Kaufman performs chamber music regularly with her colleagues in the New York Philharmonic Ensembles, and has performed at the Moab Music Festival, Mt. Desert Festival of Chamber Music, and Grand Teton Music Festival.

In September 2014, Ms. Kaufman was invited to teach in the inaugural two weeks of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy, created through a New York Philharmonic Global Academy partnership with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, in collaboration with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She previously taught at Columbia University and Mannes Prep. Mindy Kaufman has been a featured artist at the Japan Flute Convention and the National Flute Convention. A sought-after commercial musician, she has performed on more than 45 film sound tracks.

“I first discovered Lillian’s piccolos 17 years ago when I was in my first job in the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and have been playing them ever since. I simply won’t play anything else. It’s necessary in the London Symphony Orchestra for me to cover a range of different types of work from top quality classical concerts to studio work for major artists and films — the Burkart piccolo suits the job perfectly. I love the full bodied rich sound you can produce on them and the lightning articulation in the loud passages when I’m competing with my brass colleagues! Yet they retain a beautiful round sound even in the most pianissimo of phrases. I love my piccolo. Actually all three of them! What more can I say other than buy one!”

Sharon Williams is the Principal Piccolo of the London Symphony Orchestra one of the world’s leading orchestras where she has been for the past 9 years. Prior to that she was Principal Piccolo in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. She regularly works with most of Britain’s major orchestras and freelances on film sessions and other commercial work.

She is also currently Professor of piccolo at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama and regularly gives masterclasses. Major conductors she has worked with include Valery Gergiev, Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel and Rostropovich. Sharon can be heard playing Burkart piccolos on the “LSO Live” label and many film scores including Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Adelaide-born Geoffrey Collins studied at the Sydney Conservatorium with Nancy Salas (piano) and Victor McMahon, James Pellerite and Margaret Crawford (flute). He was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1982 to study in Europe with William Bennett, Michael Debost and Peter Lukas-Graf.

Geoffrey currently holds two positions: his long standing appointment as flautist with the Australia Ensemble and principal flute with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Geoffrey has held a number of the country’s most coveted flute positions, including associate principal flute and frequent guest principal with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and, for many years, principal flute in the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

A concerto soloist with most of Australia’s leading orchestras, he has also played with such contemporary music groups as AZ Music, ACME, the Seymour Group, Flederman and the Sydney Alpha Ensemble. In 2002 he gave the Australian premiere of Christopher Rouse’s flute concerto with the Adelaide Symphony orchestra. Recordings include Spinning (contemporary Australian works), the complete Mozart flute quartets with the Australia Ensemble and a duo recital with Australian harpist Alice Giles, Enchanted Dreams…Exotic Dances.

Flutronix

“Allison and I owe much of our success to the Burkart instruments. As professional flutists, it’s important that we have instruments we can count on, and our Burkarts have never let us down!”

Flutronix is Nathalie Joachim and Allison Loggins-Hull, two blazing young flutists who are“redefining the flute and modernizing its sound by hauling it squarely into the world of popular music.” (MTV Iggy) Flutronix’s work as performers, producers and composers has led to collaborations with an impressive range of artists including legendary hip-hop producer Ski Beatz, electronic music sensation Dan Deacon, the International Contemporary Ensemble and more. The duo has been featured in leading Japanese fashion magazine, FUDGE, as well as television segments on Telemundo, BK Live, The Daily Buzz and an internationally broadcast ESPN super bowl commercial.

Flutronix regularly appears on stages throughout the United States and Japan, where they are signed to Village Again Records. Performance highlights include featured concerts at the Brooklyn Museum, Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium, WNYC’s Greenespace and Virginia Arts Festival among others. Flutronix has presented and lectured for The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, the University of Michigan and other institutions across the country.

“I like to think that I’m an open minded person. I suppose that theoretically, it is possible that I could love a flute more than I do my Burkart 998 with its platinum riser. But I think the odds are infinitesimally small! I try all kinds of flutes constantly, at conventions, in my flute studio with my students, with colleagues in the business – but none other has the depth of sound, the color, the transparency, the flexibility, and the power, all rolled into one beautiful package. I think the Burkart flutes are the best in the world, plain and simple.”

Stephanie Jutt’s elegant artistry and passionate intellect have inspired musicians and audiences around the world. Her groundbreaking performances of new music, transcriptions, and traditional repertoire have made her a model for adventurous flutists everywhere. Ms. Jutt’s all-Brahms recording, Stolen Moments, with Jeffrey Sykes, pianist, was released in January 2005 on Centaur. Three Brahms sonata transcriptions by Stephanie Jutt were issued by International Music Publishing. Jutt received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music, where her teachers were James Pappoutsakis and Paula Robison. She also studied for one year with Marcel Moyse. Stephanie won the coveted Concert Artist Guild and Pro Musicis International Soloist awards, and has performed in recital throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. A devoted teacher, Stephanie Jutt is on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She co-produces the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society summer chamber music festival for three weeks each summer with pianist Jeffrey Sykes in Madison, Wisconsin. Stephanie has served as board member and Program Chair for the National Flute Association, and is currently on the Commissioning and Artistic and Career Committees. As a recipient of a Kauffman award, Stephanie Jutt has created the UW-Madison Arts Enterprise, a multi-faceted initiative which enables emerging artists to envision and create viable career strategies.

José Ananias Souza Lopes

“The sound of my gold Burkart flute is very special, it has many possibilities and the intonation is terrific. My Burkart flute gives me complete freedom to play in the orchestra and in chamber and solo performances! The quality and the beauty of the workmanship is outstanding, and the precision of the mechanism is stunning!”

José Ananias Souza Lopes was born in Brazil. He plays with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and teaches at Brazil’s major summer festivals in Curitiba, Brasilia, Tatuí and Belém. He taught at the Tatuí Conservatory from 1983 to 1987, and at the São Paulo Music School since 1990. He has presented master classes at the world’s finest music schools. He has studied with Jean Noël Saghaard, Christian Lardé and Pierre-Ives Artaud in Paris, Keith Underwood, Wolfgang Schulz and Jean-Claude Gerard.

Mr. Lopes has released three CDs. The latest one, “A Brazilian Celebration,” is totally dedicated to Brazilian music.

Flutist James Hall has enjoyed a varied and impressive career as an international soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, and teacher. A versatile and engaging performer, The Kansas City Star called him “red-hot” and the Denver Musical Weekly called his performance “…the best flute performance I have witnessed in my life.” This past summer, he appeared as a soloist with the National Symphony of Paraguay and the Paraguayan National Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, and toured South Africa in recital with pianist Stephen Pierce last Spring. Hall has been the winner of numerous competitions, including New York’s Artists International, St. Louis’ Artist Presentation Society, and the Kansas City Musical Club. He has been heard performing live on Kansas Public Radio and St. Louis’ Classic 99.

Hall is founder, artistic director, and flutist with the Chamber Music Society of Kansas City, which opened its debut season to critical acclaim in 2003. He has also premiered the works of notable American composers, including Hubert Bird’s flute concerto, which he performed in 2005. Hall has served as principal flutist with the Topeka Symphony, Missouri Symphony, St. Joseph Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Boulder Philharmonic, and the Boulder Bach Festival orchestras. He also works as a recitalist with pianist Patricia Higdon, with whom he has worked since 2002. As the Hall-Higdon Duo, the two made their Carnegie Hall recital debut in 2004, have since appeared in concert halls throughout the country.

Hall is in high demand as a teacher, having given master classes across the United States and around the world, and he is currently the flute professor at the University of Northern Colorado. Hall holds a doctorate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and his principal teachers include Rae Terpenning, Mary Posses, and Carol Wincenc.

Alberto Barletta was born in 1964 in Taurasi (AV), he studied in Avellino’s Conservatory “D.Cimarosa” with M° Vasco Degli Innocenti where he graduated with honors. Mr. Barletta completed his studies with M° Mario Ancillotti, M° Patrick Gallois and M° Glauco Cambursano for the flute and with M° Ovidio Danzi for chamber music.

In 1988 he was first flute in “Italian Young Orchestra” and in the same year he founded the woodwind quintet “A.Scarlatti” in Naples. In 1989 the quintet obtained the first prize in the XIII edition of international Chamber music competition “F.Cilea” in Palmi.
In 1996 he was with the woodwind quintet “Arnold

”. He has been first flute solo in the Toscanini Philarmonic Orchestra in Parma, in the “A.Scarlatti” chamber orchestra in Naples, and in the Radio Philarmonic Orchestra in Naples.

Alberto Barletta is active in chamber music with the radio’s soloist playing around the world. He was teacher in “Alto Perfezionamento Musicale di Saluzzo” Academy and “La Bottega del Flauto – Master Courses” in Fossano (CN). He has recorded CDs for “Nuova Era” and “Stradivarius”.
Today, Alberto Barletta is first flute solo in “Radio National Philarmonic Orchestra” and has performed as soloist under the direction of Jeffrey Tate, Claire Gibault, Alan Miller, Gorge Pehelivanian and Pascal Rophé.

Shanna Gutiérrez

As a specialist in contemporary performance practice and techniques, flutist Shanna Gutierrez is dedicated to promoting and advancing contemporary music in cultural life today through innovative performances and educational projects. She appears throughout the United States and abroad as a soloist, teacher, clinician, and in various chamber collaborations, including Collect/Project and Sonic Hedgehog. She is the co-founder of FluteXpansions, an online resource for contemporary flute. She has performed as a guest with the Collegium Novum Zürich, ensemble interface, ensemble TZARA, and Fonema Consort, in addition to concerts and residencies in Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, The Netherlands, South Korea, Mexico, Colombia, and United Kingdom.
She has received numerous awards and accolades for her performances including, prizes at the Stockhausen Courses, the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music, and a NewMusicUSA project grant. She was a founding member of Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente, with whom she received the 2012 Kranichstein Prize for Interpretation. Premieres and performances of pieces written specifically for her have led to appearances at such festivals as the Gaudeamus Muziekweek (NL), Sonic Fusion Festival (UK), Darmstadt New Music Courses (DE), BEAMS Marathon, International Computer Music Conference, Electronic Music Midwest, and Omaha Under the Radar.

Shanna can be heard on several recordings, including the album Mobile with guitarist Jesse Langen, featuring world premiere recordings of music by Fredrick Gifford, and the album SORI featuring works by Kyong Mee Choi for instruments and electronics. Current recording projects also include a solo disc of works for her new Kingma open-hole bass and alto flutes, and a disc of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf’s works for flute on NEOS.

Shanna has studied contemporary music under Matthias Ziegler, Camilla Hoitenga, Eva Furrer, Philippe Racine, and Kathinka Pasveer. Such has served as indispensable enrichment to her performance studies at the University of Michigan (Amy Porter) and Northwestern University (Walfrid Kujala), where she received her masters and bachelors degrees, respectively. Her formative training was guided by Monty Adams and Dolores Humberg, to whom she is deeply grateful. She was also a former fellow of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival. A passionate educator, Shanna is on faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago, and maintains an active private studio in the Chicago area. She is also certified to teach the Suzuki method having received her training from David Gerry and Kelly Williamson. She performs on a Burkart flute and piccolo and Kingma bass and alto flutes.

“Nothing compares to my Burkart Elite. My Burkart Elite with the M2 14K headjoint combination allows me to play with core tone that resonates through out all registers. I can play with a variety of tone colors and feel confident when I need to use an edgy tone or an entrancing liquid tone. Quite simply, my Burkart Elite helps me be the teacher and performer that I want to be every day.”

Elizabeth Shuhan is a lecturer in music education at Ithaca College, where she has also lectured in performance studies, chamber music and music theory. She is a private flute instructor in Ithaca, NY, an outside studio instructor at Cornell University and taught for four years at the Hochstein Community School of Music and Dance in Canandaigua, NY. As principal flutist with the Fort Smith (AR) Symphony, a position she has held since 1998, she has recorded three CDs for the Naxos label. She has also performed with the Skaneateles Festival Chamber Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and the Summer Music Festival of Arkansas. Ms. Shuhan was the director of the University of Arkansas Suzuki Music School, served as visiting assistant professor of flute at the University of Arkansas and was an active chamber musician and adjudicator in Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. She has held positions in the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Meridien (MS) Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Shuhan is a past winner of the NFA Professional Performer’s competition, a finalist in the National MTNA competition, a finalist in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and winner of the Mid-South Flute Society Competition. She holds degrees from the University of Arkansas and the University of Southern Mississippi. Her principal teachers were Sheryl Cohen, Sharon Lebsack and Ronda Mains and she had additional studies with Bart Feller, Marianne Gedigian and Clare Southworth. She also studied advanced Suzuki flute teacher and performance training from Toshio Takahashi, the founder of the Suzuki flute method.

Matjaž Debeljak, born 1961, is a piccoloist and flautist in the orchestra of the Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana, as well as a teacher at the Secondary School in Celje. He graduated in 1994 from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana under the mentorship of Professor Fedja Rupel, completing his post graudate work in 2010.

Debeljak played in the Slovene Police Orchestra for thirteen years, and was a member of the FOReM flute quartet. He is often in demand as a piccoloist working with the RTV Slovenia Symphoy Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra of the Slovene Philharmonic, the Academia Ars Musicae orchestra and others. Debljak has appeared as a piccolo soloist at international festivals in Zagorje (SLOVENIA), Belgrade (SERBIA), BFS Manchester (UK) 2008, and most recently at the 2011 NFA Conference in North Carolina, USA.

Debljak has had many collaborations with other piccolo artists, including Nicola Mazzanti, Lior Eitan and Jean-Louis Beaumadier.

In 2000 he recorded and published his first CD, together with the pianist Vlasta Doležal Rus, entitled Grafiti (Graffiti). He also records for Radio Slovenia. Slovene composers have written and dedicated fourteen compositions for piccolo to him, In May 2006 he release his new CD titled Prebliski (Ideas).

Wol-Sook Lee was the youngest principal flutist of the Dae Gu City symphony orchestra in Korea in 1992. Wol-Sook Lee had several solo performances with Vienna Waltz Orchestra, Dea Gu City Symphony Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Russia Tatarstan National Orchestra, Korea Festival Orchestra, Ukraine Symphony Orchestra, Kyeong Buk Symphony Orchestra, Dae Gu City Korean Music Company. Internationally she has performed many solo recitals including International Exchange Concert of Korea and Japan, Russia Gnesin’s Academy Recital, C.B.S Radio Broadcasting Recital, and Japan Hamamatsu Yamaha Music Camp Recital.

Currently, she is the principal flutist of the Dae Gu City Symphony Orchestra in Korea and teaches at Kei Myung University in Korea. She is also a music director and conductor of Calos Flute Ensemble which she founded and has released several CDs.

Mr. Hong-Gyu Lee, former member of the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, is highly respected as a player and teacher. Hong-Gyu Lee graduated from Chung-ju Univ and finished his master’s degree at Dong Graduate School. He has graduated studies at several conservatories such as Austria Innsbruck municipal conservatory, Poland Chopin National Conservatory and Glazunov National Conservatory in Russia. He is a prize winner in the famous Dong-ah Music Competition.

Currently, he is the professor of flute in Choong-Chung University, and also gives classes to many high schools including Seoul Art Middle/High School and Sunhwa Art Middle/High School. Hong-Gyu Lee has been selected as a Burkart Aritst. He is the chairman of the Korea Flute Educators Association (KFEA).

Mrs. Hyun-Sook Kim earned Musician of the Year from the Korean critics and music association group. Hyun-Sook Kim has graduated from Seoul University, Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne – HEMU, and Poland Chopin Conservatory. Hyun-Sook has taught at the prestigious Cincinnati University of Music under an exchange program, and was dean of music at Ga-Chun University.

Currently, she is the professor of flute in Kyung-won University, and is invited to give many performances through the year. Hyun-Sook Kim has been selected as a Burkart Aritst in 2014.

Jan Gippo was Piccolo/Flutist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 1972-2008. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, he taught at Webster University from 1980-2010, was on the faculty of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Saint Louis University, and presented recitals and masterclasses throughout the United States and abroad.

From 2002-2006, Mr. Gippo served as Chairman of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, ICSOM. This organization represents 52 major orchestras of the United States and over 5000 musicians.

He is the author and editor of “The Complete Piccolo: a comprehensive guide to fingerings, repertoire, and history,” published by the Theodore Presser Company.

As founder of the Piccolo Committee of the National Flute Association, Jan helped raise over $120,000 to commission 15 new works for the instrument. Gippo has served on the board of directors for the National Flute Association where he was the spearhead for the creation of the Piccolo Artist Competition.

In addition, he was co-chair of the St. Louis Symphony’s orchestra committee and was the creator of feature “Let’s Talk Picc” in Flute Talk and has continued as author, contributing editor, and editor-at-large of Flute Talk Magazine, an Instrumentalist publication.

He is also the owner/publisher of Meridian Publishing LLC that publishes the Gaubert Suite for flute and piano and piccolo works: Benshoof Spindrift, Broughton Concerto for Piccolo, and Loeb Preludes Volume III plus much more. Check the web site for new publications: www.jangippo.com

The New York Times called Julia Bogorad-Kogan “a wonderful flutist- her playing is graceful, virtuosic, and always full of interest.” Bogorad-Kogan, who became the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s principal flutist at the age of 22, combines an orchestral career with regular recitals and solo performances. A winner of a Grammy Award for best recording of chamber music, she has performed world-wide, including at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall, the Schubertsaal of the Vienna Konzerthaus, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection, and in Costa Rica and China. A frequent soloist with the SPCO, she is also principal flutist and a soloist at the Grand Teton Music Festival. She has appeared on numerous Saint Paul Sunday radio shows, and at the Marlboro and Ravinia Festivals. Bogorad-Kogan has served as acting principal flutist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, the National Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra. She serves on the faculty of the University of Minnesota, and was an interim faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory and at the University of Michigan. Her two latest CDs, on the Full Harmonic label, are “Flute Music of the Paris Conservatory,” and “Handel Flute Sonatas,” of which “Flute Talk” magazine wrote, “were you to have only one Baroque CD, it should be this one.” Having attended Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University and Yale University, she studied with Marcel Moyse, Thomas Nyfenger, James Pellerite, and Robert Willoughby. Bogorad-Kogan is a student of ballet at Dance Spectrum in Saint Paul.

Mr. Cheol-Ho Lee, current flute and piccolo player of the KBS Symphony Orchestra, is widely known as a respected teacher, conductor, and performer. He has served as an instructor at Chongshin University, Hanyang University, Kyoungwon Graduate school, Sungsil Conservatory, Seoul Conservatory, Inchon Arts High School, and Gyewon Arts High School. He currently teaches flute and piccolo at Dukwon Art High School, Hanyang University, Yonsei University, and Myungji Graduate School. In addition to his current teaching positions, Mr. Cheol-Ho Lee is principal conductor of the Seoul Flute Choir and the Ezer Chamber Orchestra.

As Tim Page wrote in the New York Times, “Miss Hoitenga plays impeccably, produces a full, warm tone from her instrument…her concert, the most exciting program of new music this listener has heard so far this year…”

Most known for her work with composers Kaija Saariaho and Karlheinz Stockhausen, Camilla’s repertoire ranges from pre-Bach to post-Stockhausen. Working with conductors like Susanna Mälkki, Alan Gilbert, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Marin Alsop, and Vladimir Jurowski in concert halls and important festivals all over the world, Camilla has performed concertos written for her by composers such as Kaija Saariaho, Péter Köszeghy and KenIchiro Kobayashi. In addition to writing pieces for flute alone, composers have honored her with music for her various duos, whether with harp, percussion, piano or most recently, the Finnish kantele. A frequent guest in Japan, and with a particular interest in Japanese culture, she has also premiered dozens of pieces written for her by Japanese composers. Her recordings, in particular those with Kaija Saariaho, have won the Charles Gros Grand Prix, the Diapason d’Or and similar awards in France, Great Britain and North America.

Before dedicating her life to performing, Camilla held positions at the Crane School of Music in New York and the Folkwang Hochschule in Duisburg, Germany. She continues to enjoy teaching in private lessons as well as in masterclasses and workshops on various subjects for performers, composers and audiences of all ages. Her own flute teachers were Darlene Dugan, Alexander Murray, Peter Lloyd, Julius Baker and Marcel Moyse.

April Clayton is Professor of Flute at Brigham Young University, where she received tenure at age 31. She is also Woodwind Studies Chair at the Gifted Music School pre-college in Salt Lake City, and President of Da Capo Alliance. Dr. Clayton has performed as soloist and chamber artist in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Zurich, Paris, Riva del Garda, Granada, Leipzig, Moscow, Vancouver, New York City, and throughout South Korea, Mexico and the United States. For seven years, she was Director of Chamber Music for the European American Musical Alliance. As such, Ms. Clayton worked in Paris alongside members of the faculty of Juilliard, the Paris Conservatory and Ecole Normale de Musique, and other elite schools. She continues her international performance and educational endeavors each summer through the Da Capo Alliance nonprofit.

Ms. Clayton is also a member of the Orpheus Wind Quintet, a leading woodwind quintet in the Intermountain West. She is also flutist with the New York-based flute, viola, harp trio Hat Trick. This group received a nod at the 2017 Grammy Awards as their producer, David Frost, was awarded Best Classical Producer of the Year. Mr. Frost was given this award based on his work with nine CDs, one of which was Hat Trick’s debut CD, Submerged. Dr. Clayton has been Principal Flute with the Utah Chamber Artists since 2005, and often performs with Ballet West and the Utah Symphony. She has toured as a guest with the New York Woodwind Quintet. She often works with dynamic piano duo partner Jed Moss of Salt Lake City, who was formerly a member of the band Air Supply. Ms. Clayton was formerly principal flute and concerto soloist with the New York Lyric Orchestra, and also played principal flute with The Jupiter Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and at the Sarasota Music Festival.

Ms. Clayton plays on a Burkart Elite 998 Flute with Gold Tone Holes and a Lillian Burkart Platinum Headjoint.