Leone Buyse (pronounced lee-OWN BIE-zee) is the flute professor at Rice University. She's also a good friend who I've known since I was a lowly fellowship brat at Tanglewood and she was Acting Principal of the Boston Symphony.
So I was thrilled to hear that Leone is in town this weekend as the featured artist at the Flute festival for the Upper Midwest Flute Association (or UMFA, said with almost the same explosive sound as "Uffda")
Leone is a beautiful musician who plays the French repertoire with a kind of innate understanding of the colors, lilt, nuance and French-ness of the flute rep.
She is also an amazing teacher - thoughtful, articulate and generous. I remember in one masterclass how she gently shamed me into making the opening phrase of Claude Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun" in one breathe - "You're a runner; good heavens, Alison, you have all the air you need!" That moment stuck with me through many a concert.
Leone will give a masterclass - a kind of group lesson where one person plays at a time and everyone else learns together. She will also share a lecture on playing Mozart with confidence - music that appears on every flute audition list and stays within a professional's repertoire her entire career.
And she'll play a recital including some French gems and a quartet with three of her former students, Jane Garvin, Roma Kanasara and Catherine Ramirez. Kathryn Ananda-Owens on the faculty at St. Olaf accompanies. All these events - and more - take place at Concordia University in St. Paul. Click here for more.
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