Kristin Bacchiocchi-Stewart, D.M.A. is the director and founder of The Flute Academy, located in Bergen County, NJ. She has served on the faculties of Union College, Peabody Conservatory, Frostburg State University, Ithaca College and Schenectady County Community College. She is a member of the Lyra Ensemble (Flute Quartet), Classic V Winds (Woodwind Quintet), principal flute of the NJ Wind Symphony and is proud to serve on the Board of Directors as Co-President of the New Jersey Flute Society. She has given concerts, lectures, workshops and master classes throughout the United States and has also performed in several groups throughout Europe and Japan. Her academic achievements include a Doctoral of Musical Arts Degree from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Music Degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music Degree from Ithaca College. Her main teachers have been Marina Piccinini, Bradley Garner, Wendy Mehne, Claudia Anderson and Selma Moore. www.thefluteacademy.com
Ellen Fisher-Deerberg graduated from Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music where she majored in music performance and studied with Murray Panitz, former principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ellen is a well-respected freelance artist in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and has performed in a wide variety of instrumental ensembles in both the USA and Germany. She has been teaching flute for over 28 years, formerly at the Bryn Mawr Conservatory of Music and the Music School of Delaware, and has been on the faculty of Westminster Conservatory in Princeton, New Jersey, since 2005. Ellen is the principal flutist of the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra.
Anna Meyer holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Bachelors in Flute Performance and German minor) and The Peabody Institute (Masters). She was previously the adjunct instructor of Flute at Mercyhurst University and Second Flutist of the Canton Symphony Orchestra, both positions she held until her family relocated to the Philadelphia area in 2011. Recently, she took second place in the 2015 Myrna Brown Competition in Dallas, TX and is currently a listed substitute for many regional orchestras, including the Delaware Symphony, Opera Philadelphia, and the Allentown Symphony. Anna also maintains a private studio out of her home in Willow Grove. She and her husband, Erik, often collaborate in concerts of flute and organ music, and she is a founding member of the Lyra Ensemble. For more information, please visit www.aemeyer.com/anna
Elivi Varga performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the Philadelphia area. She is an adjunct professor of music history at Temple University and Rowan University. She teaches flute at the Community College of Philadelphia and maintains a private flute studio. She has studied at Goucher College, the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she earned a doctorate of musical arts degree. Dr. Varga’s CD, Silver Tunes: Music for Flute and Organ, includes world-premiere recordings of music by American composers Lowell Liebermann and Augusta Read Thomas, and has been broadcast on radio stations throughout Europe. Her articles on music have appeared in The Flutist Quarterly, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and elsewhere. She is a member of the board for the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia, and regularly serves as adjudicator and clinician in the mid-Atlantic region. Please visit www.elivi.com for more information.