TGIF, Jan 17, 5:30pm

Our Friday night concert is privileged to welcome the Flutissimo! Flute Choir, an accomplished orchestra from Dallas, Texas. The music include Borwick, Hirose, and a specially arranged piece by Tucker. Doors to the sanctuary open at 5:15pm and the concert begins at 5:30pm. The concert is free with donations accepted.

Program

‘BAD’ Girls By Doug Borwick

I. “BAD” Girls
II. Billie
III. Case
IV. Mahalia
V. Janis

Songs of the Ocean by Ryohei Hirose/arr. Ann Cameron Pearce

I. There Was No Ocean
II. The Tuffed Puffin
III. Lullaby for the Ocean

“Cotton’s Country” (orig. 2013/arr. 2023)
By Christopher Tucker/ arranged for the Flutissimo! Flute Choir by Christopher Tucker
Commissioned by Flutissimo! Flute Choir

Flutissimo Flute Choir, Dallas, Texas

Veronica Mascaro, Conductor
Janice Spooner, Artistic Director

Members
Denise Buckner
Andrea Frankenfield
Theresa Hampton
Heather Lindstrom
Krystal Kelley
Kim Kresge
Nancy O’Malley
Danette Rizzardi
Ann Rodenberg
Meri Rule
Melissa Sneed
Janice Spooner
Cheryl Stewart
Alex García
Mary Worth
Lynn McIntyre
Beth Adcock

Flutissimo! Flute Choir Biography

In 1997 Flutissimo! Flute Choir began with 8 members under the name of Mid-Cities Flute Choir. Three of those members, Kathleen Holley, Janice Spooner, and Cheryl Stewart, are still performing with the group. In three years our numbers had grown to 16 including two alto flutes, we had an actual conductor, and their name changed to what it is today. Their first conductor was George Virgili, former band director at Richland H.S. and now deceased. Their second conductor was Mark Chandler, currently the Fine Arts Director of HEB ISD. Flutissimo! grew to about 20 people when Tom Connelly, music teacher at TCC-S, was the director on the fall of 2009 and helped the group grow to about 25 people, taking them for the first time as a performing group to the National Flute Association (NFA) Annual Convention in Charolotte, NC, in 2011 and again to Chicago in 2014. In the fall of 2014, Felix Torres became the conductor. By his fifth year, they had grown to over 30 performers, and in 2017 he took them to NFA in Minneapolis for their third national performance. The National Flute Association’s convention is the world’s largest flute convention in the world, with the 2nd largest being the Texas Flute Society Festival held in Denton, TX, every May. Being selected to perform at NFA is a highly regarded achievement that solidifies their place in the flute playing world and skyrockets their abilities to the next level. Their wonderful conductors have taken them to the Texas Flute Festival where Flutissimo! has won Outstanding Amateur Ensemble consecutively since 2008. In 2014 they had their first commissioned piece by low flutist Chris Potter, “Tres Ratitas Ciegas,” a Mexican-style version of “3 Blind Mice.” They have had composers from all over the US, Peru, and from England and Scotland send them compositions. Alexander Abbott from Scotland not only writes for them, but in 2011 came to Texas to conduct two of his pieces. Flutissimo! is now under the leadership of Veronica Mascaro, herself a world-renowned flutist. Flutissimo! Flute Choir is a success story of nearly 25 years!