I am a classically trained flutist, with a Bachelor of Arts in Flute Performance from Peabody Institute, where I studied with Marina Piccinini. In Sept 2020, I joined the competitive flute studio of 1er flute solo of Orchestre de Paris, Vincent Lucas. 

While at Peabody, I also studied orchestral playing Laurie Sokoloff (piccolo) and Emily Skala (principal flutist of the BSO). My classical training covered baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary repertoire and performance practice. Upon graduating from Peabody Institute I received the Grace Clagett Prize for Chamber Music for my work in chamber music. I was also principal flute for several seasons with the Peabody Concert Orchestra, Peabody Modern Orchestra, and Now Hear This! ensemble (the school's premier contemporary ensemble). While studying this rarified, beautiful practice of classical flute, I have strived to bring my music to a wide range of audiences, often playing excerpts and flute solos on street corners during my travels, and bringing my chamber groups to unorthodox venues. 

Free improvisation is spontaneous musical process, one with no grammatical rules other than the perception of when one should speak through the instrument, listen, ignore, oppose or enhance the other's playing, and when playing solo, how to build a sonic world alone. This practice was first introduced to me by Michael Formanek. 

I love working in this language because it allows me to develop new sonic techniques on the spot, adding a contemporary, self discovered layer to my classical technique and palette. Every time I improvise freely for an audience it is brand new, and will never be played again. It is a singular moment, defined by the synergy of listener and performer. There is something about toeing that line that feels very alive, and allows the audience to be "in on" the messy unfolding of musical ideas, with all the bumps and mishaps  that are part of the compositional process, but are usually written out in the "finished product". Free improvisation is a raw product, shaky and vibrant as a young leaf unfolding to the elements in the room.

Part of my work as a classical musician and citizen artist is bringing music to audiences that would otherwise not have access to it. I do this through several channels: I am a concert coordinator for The Creative Access, a  Peabody Institute program that brings music to various community centers in Baltimore. My sites are the Waxter Center for seniors and My Sister's Place. I also volunteer regularly as a performer at other sites including the VA Hospital in the PTSD ward, and the Roland Park senior living center. 
My curational work includes recently putting together a community concert with a team of other Latino musicians, it was called Music for Puerto Rico. All the proceeds from the evening of music and poetry were sent to UNIDOS por Puerto Rico to help with hurricane devastation on the island. 
My trio (Trio Jinx) worked with Classical Revolution and beatboxer Shodekeh to curate a beatbox and classical music fusion concert at The Crown, bringing classical music to a dance hall setting. My trio has does regular outreach community concerts, free of charge, in order to share our music with the largest audience possible, spanning as many demographics as possible. We have done this work in our three residences across the country (El Paso, Mesa, and in Milford, Iowa.)
My trio also recently performed an Azure concert, which is a program created by 
where live music is performed for children with autism and related disorders and their families. All behaviors are welcome in this concert, and we catered it towards sharing the joy of chamber music without concert hall stuffiness that sometimes accompanies it.
This kind of community building through performance has been life changing for me. I've observed that such concerts have a healing effect on both performers and audience members. Sometimes audience members cannot move or react, or are trapped in negativity, but as the hour passes, we all soften a little, and find peace together.

New music to me is primarily a living art, defined by today's practicing composers, and collaborating  artists. What is most exciting to me is that in this landscape, the flute can embody a much wider spectrum of personalities and sensations than in traditional Western flute repertoire. In this world, the pure, golden tone that we strive for in the classical idiom is but one among many iterations of breath that one can think of:

Inhale. Exhale. That single breath can be exuberant and athletic, or dry and thin, luxurious and sensual, or skittering away, simply frightened out of its wits, and all of this can be shown on the flute with different techniques. The quality of our breath is intimately tied to our psychological and emotional experience, from moment to moment. I have worked alongside new music composers, improvised, and begun composing myself in order to hone and develop this palette of breath personalities. The flute, after all, is just a tube, so the bulk of the work is in developing theatrical and expressive ideas that I can then find a way to transmit through the instrument. My new music projects include: Playing contemporary solo repertoire on flute, my duo The Witches, playing in contemporary ensembles such as Now Hear This, Ensemble 4'33'', and Trio Jinx. 

To check out The Witches in more detail visit:  www.witchtunes.com
To check out Trio Jinx in more detail visit: www.triojinxmusic.com

I have been lucky to get connected to a hip hop and beatboxing scene at the Windup Space through working with Boom Bap Society and Shodekeh's Embody Vocal Arts Festival. I first was connected to Boom Bap through working with Wendel Patrick and David Smooke to bring a hip hop class to Peabody's curriculum. I wrote a student proposal that paired with Professor Smooke's faculty proposal and Mr. Patrick's curriculum and won the Dean's Incentive Grant. As a result , Peabody  Institute now has a student acclaimed hip hop practicum class taught by Wendel Patrick. Since then I have collaborated with Wendel at the Hippodrome and performed as a guest musician at Boom Bap Society twice. My duo The Witches has been featured on Shodekeh's Embody Vocal Arts Festival concert, performing our original vocal works and improvising alongside beatboxers and throat singers. I have found it incredibly musically inspiring and stimulating to collaborate with these genres, bringing my flute and voice to the mix and honing my improvisational and rhythmic chops in the process.