Mid-Day Music, April 29, 2015
The April 29 Mid-Day Music program features Justine Stephens, Flute. The concert starts at 12:05 p.m. and lasts approximately one-half hour. The recital is free but donations are gladly accepted. A light lunch follows for a $5 donation.
Praised for her energetic and versatile playing, Justine Stephens is a charismatic flutist who thrives on sharing music with her audiences in unique and refreshing ways. Ms. Stephens is committed to implementing her lively personality through her programming, phrasing, and performing.
Ms. Stephens is actively commissioned to perform original compositions and most notably was the jazz flute soloist in a short film, Kuvuka Daraja (Crossing the Bridge), that had premiered at the tenth annual International Black Women’s Film Festival in San Francisco last July. This August, Ms. Stephens will be performing on a concert program among other pioneers in the new music flute scene at the 43rd annual National Flute Association Convention in Washington, D.C.
As a mezzo-soprano, she was a member of the Seabury Academy of Music and the Arts’ Chorister Program in her native Norwalk, Connecticut for six years. She toured with the ensemble to England in 2007 for residencies at Bristol, Gloucester, Wells, Guildford, and Southwark cathedrals and returned for residencies in England and Scotland in 2010 at Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow; St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh; Blackburn Cathedral and Ely Cathedral. She has also performed with the choir in the Three Choirs Festival at St. John’s the Divine in Manhattan. Ms. Stephens has since been asked back numerous times to St. Paul’s on the Green to appear as a soloist and chamber musician for the Seabury Academy’s Mid-Day Music Series, where she has presented thoughtful and informative programs of standard flute and chamber music repertoire.
Ms. Stephens was a student of Wendy Herbener Mehne at Ithaca College, where she completed her Bachelor of Music degree in performance. She has also studied under Adrianne Greenbaum, Elizabeth Harris, Susan Hoeppener, Susan Milan, Bärli Nugent, Elizabeth Shuhan, Jessica Raposo, and Matthew Wright, and has performed in masterclasses for Jeanne Baxtresser, Susan Deaver, Bart Feller, Brad Garner, Trudy Kane, Jeffrey Khaner, Gary Schocker, Alexa Still, and Jan Vinci. She has attended Skidmore Flute Institute, Julius Baker Masterclasses, LIU Post Chamber Music Festival, and Le Domaine Forget International Music and Dance Academy. She was also a Friends of Flutes Foundation grant recipient to support her studio recordings of master's degree prescreening materials in 2013.
Ms. Stephens performs on a handcut Haynes Fusion (14K rose gold exterior, 95% silver/5% platinum alloy interior, and 14k gold riser) headjoint and a Haynes handmade body finished in 2004. She currently works in development at Carnegie Hall. Please visit justinestephens.com for upcoming performances and more information.
For additional information, contact events@seaburynorwalk.org (203) 847-2806 x13
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