[309] MTSU’s Feb. 21 Flute Festival features guest artists Pope, Charnofsky

MURFREESBORO — The 2015 MTSU Flute Festival, featuring guest artist George Pope, will be held this Saturday, Feb. 21, in the university’s Wright Music Building.

Registration for the event, now in its 15th year, will begin at 8 a.m. Feb. 21.

Pope and guest pianist Eric Charnofsky will present a public recital at 1 p.m. in Hinton Hall inside the Wright building, and Pope will then present a master class for festival participants at 2:15 p.m.

Admission for the MTSU Flute Festival is $20 for early registration or $25 at the door for participating flutists. Members of the public may register as guests for one or all of the public concerts and competitions for a $5-per-person charge.

The day’s events include an 8:30 a.m. opening session in Hinton Hall, which will include a workshop with Nashville flutist Celine Thackston and a session for younger musicians with MTSU instructor Rebecca Murphy. Flute exhibits featuring manufacturers, flute products and flute repair will open at 9 a.m.

Pope will conduct a morning session for festival participants beginning at 9:30 a.m. At 10:30 a.m., the High School Solo Competition, Junior Solo Competition and Orchestral Excerpts Competition will begin.

The festival will conclude with a 4 p.m. final concert featuring the winners of the high school and junior competitions, members of the Festival Flute choir and more.

Pope, who is emeritus professor of flute at the University of Akron and a flute instructor at Ohio’s Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music, served as principal flute for the Akron Symphony from 1978 to 2002 and also has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Tulsa Philharmonic, the New Mexico Symphony and other organizations. He is a founding member of the Solaris Wind Quintet and the Chamber Music Society of Ohio, and the Akron Area Arts Alliance named him “Arts Educator of 2009.”

Charnofsky, a pianist, composer and music educator, currently teaches at Case Western Reserve University and has performed throughout North America solo and with organizations including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. The Ohio Music Teachers Association named him “Composer of the Year” for 2012.

For more information about this year’s event, please visit the 2015 MTSU Flute Festival Web page at http://www.mtsu.edu/flute. For details on more MTSU School of Music performances and special events, call 615-898-2493 or visit http://www.mtsumusic.com and click on the "Concert Calendar" link.