About the Artists |
Dr. Michael Torres
Saxophonist and composer, Dr. Michael Rene Torres, currently serves as Assistant Professor of Practice at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio where he teaches saxophone and composition, and during the summers teaches saxophone at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Columbus Ohio Discovery Ensemble; a 501(c)3 nonprofit contemporary music ensemble that is dedicated to the promotion, performance, and perception of contemporary concert music in Central Ohio. Additionally, Michael serves as the Program Director and an Advisory Board member of the Johnstone Fund for New Music which advances the performance of new music for the benefit of the Central Ohio community. Michael is a Conn-Selmer Endorsing Artist, performing exclusively on Selmer Paris saxophones, and has presented recitals, clinics, and masterclasses at conferences, universities, and festivals throughout the USA. To learn more visit, https://michaelrenetorres.weebly.com/
Dr. Erin Torres
Dr. Erin Helgeson Torres is Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Ohio Northern University where she runs the applied flute studio and the Music History sequence in addition to coaching small ensembles and flute choir. Erin has also taught flute at Muskingum, Ashland, and Ohio Dominican Universities. She was appointed in 2019 to the Artist Faculty of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan and is the founder of the Mid-Ohio Flute Intensive, entering its fifth season. For six years, Erin served as the Assistant Dean of Students at the Brevard Music Center Summer Festival and Institute. She is Principal Flutist of the Lima Symphony Orchestra, McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra and Queen City Opera, Second Flutist/Piccoloist with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Substitute Second Flutist for the 2019-20 season with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and an Associate Musician with the Columbus Symphony. She is also Solo Flutist with the Columbus Ohio Discovery Ensemble (CODE), a contemporary music ensemble that is dedicated to the promotion, performance, and perception of new music in Central Ohio. She has performed in various area orchestras including the Springfield, Central Ohio, and Westerville Symphonies. Additionally, she performs in the flute/saxophone duet, Tower Duo, with her husband, Dr. Michael Torres. Their debut album released under the Ravello for Parma Recordings label in 2019. Erin holds degrees from The Ohio State University, Stetson University, and the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.
Andrea "Fluterscooter" Fisher
A graduate of The Juilliard School in flute performance (BM 02, MM 04), Andrea "Fluterscooter" Fisher started the popular Fluterscooter bag brand 10 years ago and has grown the business to be sold in over 250 stores worldwide. She manages the company's growing custom branch whose clients include Powell Flutes, Brannen Bros. Flutes, Gemeinhardt Flutes, Mollard Conducting Batons, P. Mauriat, Pettry Piccolos, Straubinger Flutes, Flute Center of New York, and Moscow Flute Center. Fluterscooter has thus expanded to include oboe, clarinet, and most recently guitar and ukelele bags.
Andrea was active in the inception of The Juilliard School's Entrepreneurship program as one of their first Resident Entrepreneurs, and she has been giving lectures, workshops, and coachings to students and graduates of all arts disciplines for the past 6 years at The Juilliard School, New York University, Penn State University, University of Iowa, Butler University, West Virginia University, University of Missouri, University of South Carolina, Texas Flute Festival, Galway Flute Festival, and the National Flute Association. She was a founder, editor, and writer for The Flute View magazine.
Her eclectic flute career includes collaborations with John Legend, 50 Cent, Rick Ross, Puff Daddy, Wiz Khalifa, and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Andrea has performed in concert halls throughout the world and has given world premieres at Seoul Arts Center and the Galway Flute Festival. As an educator, Andrea has taught masterclasses in China at the Tianjian and Nanjing Conservatories and throughout Asia as an ambassador to The Juilliard School/Nord Anglia Education program. She has self-produced and released 3 albums of meditation and medicine music. Andrea is known for her unique performances using hologram technology and is best recognized for her viral videos where she plays flute and organ simultaneously. Her Halloween video of Danse Macabre, where she played flute, keyboards, and pedals has gotten over 1 million views.
She presents her Entrepreneurship sessions in a fun and engaging atmosphere, and includes her personal stories, from selling CDs out of an ice cream truck to balancing her creative and business endeavors. Students leave her sessions inspired and with a fresh outlook on their careers and opportunities both in and outside of school.
Fluterscooter is a Powell Flutes Artist.
LINKS
Flutes Unscripted podcast interview: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fluterscooter/id1377739662?i=1000428216188
Talking Flutes podcast interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KR7l9auaHc
Classic FM feature: https://www.facebook.com/ClassicFM/videos/saint-saënss-danse-macabre-by fluterscooter/10156023661449260/
Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2012/04/12/music/fluterscooter-brings-a-new-shine-to-the-flute/
Hologram performance: https://vimeo.com/108361483
Seoul Arts Center premiere: https://vimeo.com/257456940
Andrea was active in the inception of The Juilliard School's Entrepreneurship program as one of their first Resident Entrepreneurs, and she has been giving lectures, workshops, and coachings to students and graduates of all arts disciplines for the past 6 years at The Juilliard School, New York University, Penn State University, University of Iowa, Butler University, West Virginia University, University of Missouri, University of South Carolina, Texas Flute Festival, Galway Flute Festival, and the National Flute Association. She was a founder, editor, and writer for The Flute View magazine.
Her eclectic flute career includes collaborations with John Legend, 50 Cent, Rick Ross, Puff Daddy, Wiz Khalifa, and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Andrea has performed in concert halls throughout the world and has given world premieres at Seoul Arts Center and the Galway Flute Festival. As an educator, Andrea has taught masterclasses in China at the Tianjian and Nanjing Conservatories and throughout Asia as an ambassador to The Juilliard School/Nord Anglia Education program. She has self-produced and released 3 albums of meditation and medicine music. Andrea is known for her unique performances using hologram technology and is best recognized for her viral videos where she plays flute and organ simultaneously. Her Halloween video of Danse Macabre, where she played flute, keyboards, and pedals has gotten over 1 million views.
She presents her Entrepreneurship sessions in a fun and engaging atmosphere, and includes her personal stories, from selling CDs out of an ice cream truck to balancing her creative and business endeavors. Students leave her sessions inspired and with a fresh outlook on their careers and opportunities both in and outside of school.
Fluterscooter is a Powell Flutes Artist.
LINKS
Flutes Unscripted podcast interview: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fluterscooter/id1377739662?i=1000428216188
Talking Flutes podcast interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KR7l9auaHc
Classic FM feature: https://www.facebook.com/ClassicFM/videos/saint-saënss-danse-macabre-by fluterscooter/10156023661449260/
Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2012/04/12/music/fluterscooter-brings-a-new-shine-to-the-flute/
Hologram performance: https://vimeo.com/108361483
Seoul Arts Center premiere: https://vimeo.com/257456940
Jessica Pelltier
As a flutist, Jessica currently plays with the Long Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, SC. She is currently the Adjunct Flute Professor at Coastal Carolina University. Jessica also has had a thriving flute studio for over 15 years and created her own personal studio "The Positive Playing Studio". She has been awarded the Osman Award for Music (2015), and Mildred Loman Henning Scholarship (2016-2017), and received a Graduate Teaching Assistantship for both Flute Performance and Orchestral Conducting (2017).
Jessica also serves as the Librarian for the Long Bay Symphony and the Assistant Conductor of the Long Bay Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Jessica has studied with world-renowned flutists through several masterclasses. These include: the Consummate Flutist at the University of Carnegie Melon with Jim Walker, Jeanne Baxstresser, and Alberto Almarza, Marina Piccinini Master Classes at Peabody Conservatory with Marina Piccinini and Brook Ferguson, Beyond the Master Class at Colburn School of Music with Jim Walker, Denis Bouriakov, Rose Lombardo, Ben Smolen, and Diana Morgan.
Jessica has traveled the world performing, taking her to places like Germany, France, and Costa Rica. She has performed all over the United States including California, Iowa, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, and more.
Jessica Pelltier is a Master of Music from the University of Louisville, Flute Performance and Orchestral Conducting (2019). She received her Bachelor of Music in Music Performance, Flute, at Ohio Northern University (2017). To learn more please visit her website at jesswise.wixsite.com/pelltierflute
Jessica also serves as the Librarian for the Long Bay Symphony and the Assistant Conductor of the Long Bay Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Jessica has studied with world-renowned flutists through several masterclasses. These include: the Consummate Flutist at the University of Carnegie Melon with Jim Walker, Jeanne Baxstresser, and Alberto Almarza, Marina Piccinini Master Classes at Peabody Conservatory with Marina Piccinini and Brook Ferguson, Beyond the Master Class at Colburn School of Music with Jim Walker, Denis Bouriakov, Rose Lombardo, Ben Smolen, and Diana Morgan.
Jessica has traveled the world performing, taking her to places like Germany, France, and Costa Rica. She has performed all over the United States including California, Iowa, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, and more.
Jessica Pelltier is a Master of Music from the University of Louisville, Flute Performance and Orchestral Conducting (2019). She received her Bachelor of Music in Music Performance, Flute, at Ohio Northern University (2017). To learn more please visit her website at jesswise.wixsite.com/pelltierflute
Dr. Eric Schultz
Eric Schultz is an international prize-winning clarinetist. As 1st-prize winner of the American Protégé International Competition, he will be performing in a solo recital at Carnegie Hall this season. He is also a 1st-prize winner of the Brussels Grand Prize Virtuoso International Competition, and recipient of the prestigious Rislov Foundation grant for excellence in classical music, awarded for his performance of Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto.
He performs regularly with The Chelsea Symphony in New York City and the Long Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, and has performed across North America and Europe at venues from Carnegie Hall in New York to Smetana Hall in Prague. Schultz has performed at many international festivals, including Mozarteum Salzburg, Prague Summer Nights, and AlpenKammerMusik. Well-known for his multiple woodwind performance, he performed in the orchestra for Nice Work If You Can Get It, the Tony Award-winning Broadway Musical on National Tour, and as a recording artist, his multiple reed work can be heard on recordings released by Tantara Productions.
Schultz is a fierce advocate for new music and living composers. He has commissioned and/or premiered the music of noted composers such as Leila Adu-Gilmore (NYU), Jonathan Bailey Holland (Boston Conservatory at Berklee), David Sanford (Mount Holyoke College), Mary D. Watkins (Opera America 2020 Discovery Grant), Liliya Ugay (Florida State University), Chiayu Hsu (Copland House Residency Award), Johanny Navarro (Opera America 2020 Discovery Grant), Armando Bayolo (Peabody Conservatory), Carlos Carrillo (Urbana-Champaign), and Iván Enrique Rodríguez (ASCAP Leonard Bernstein Award), and is the founding clarinetist of the Victory Players chamber orchestra. Based in Holyoke, Massachusetts, an historically Puerto Rican town, the group actively commissions and premieres the music of composers from a diversity of backgrounds. As a part of the chamber orchestra’s commitment to the outreach of new music, the group performs and does masterclasses in local schools with students working side-by-side with the performers and composers.
Interested in contemporary articulation techniques and pedagogy for woodwind instruments, Schultz has published his research in journals such as the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Journal. He is also a frequent contributor to The Clarinet, and has presented at several international conferences, including the College Music Society’s conference in Vancouver and the International Clarinet Association conference in Ostend, Belgium.
Schultz serves as Assistant Professor of Music at Coastal Carolina University, where he teaches studio woodwinds, woodwind techniques, and chamber music. As a founding faculty research fellow in the Center for Inclusive Excellence, he has developed interdisciplinary courses in the humanities, including “Narratives of Democracy,” a team-taught course drawing connections between current music, journalism, and portrait statue monuments. His public-facing work in the center advocates for including a diversity of living composers in collegiate music curricula and repertoire lists. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in clarinet performance at Stony Brook University.
He performs regularly with The Chelsea Symphony in New York City and the Long Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, and has performed across North America and Europe at venues from Carnegie Hall in New York to Smetana Hall in Prague. Schultz has performed at many international festivals, including Mozarteum Salzburg, Prague Summer Nights, and AlpenKammerMusik. Well-known for his multiple woodwind performance, he performed in the orchestra for Nice Work If You Can Get It, the Tony Award-winning Broadway Musical on National Tour, and as a recording artist, his multiple reed work can be heard on recordings released by Tantara Productions.
Schultz is a fierce advocate for new music and living composers. He has commissioned and/or premiered the music of noted composers such as Leila Adu-Gilmore (NYU), Jonathan Bailey Holland (Boston Conservatory at Berklee), David Sanford (Mount Holyoke College), Mary D. Watkins (Opera America 2020 Discovery Grant), Liliya Ugay (Florida State University), Chiayu Hsu (Copland House Residency Award), Johanny Navarro (Opera America 2020 Discovery Grant), Armando Bayolo (Peabody Conservatory), Carlos Carrillo (Urbana-Champaign), and Iván Enrique Rodríguez (ASCAP Leonard Bernstein Award), and is the founding clarinetist of the Victory Players chamber orchestra. Based in Holyoke, Massachusetts, an historically Puerto Rican town, the group actively commissions and premieres the music of composers from a diversity of backgrounds. As a part of the chamber orchestra’s commitment to the outreach of new music, the group performs and does masterclasses in local schools with students working side-by-side with the performers and composers.
Interested in contemporary articulation techniques and pedagogy for woodwind instruments, Schultz has published his research in journals such as the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Journal. He is also a frequent contributor to The Clarinet, and has presented at several international conferences, including the College Music Society’s conference in Vancouver and the International Clarinet Association conference in Ostend, Belgium.
Schultz serves as Assistant Professor of Music at Coastal Carolina University, where he teaches studio woodwinds, woodwind techniques, and chamber music. As a founding faculty research fellow in the Center for Inclusive Excellence, he has developed interdisciplinary courses in the humanities, including “Narratives of Democracy,” a team-taught course drawing connections between current music, journalism, and portrait statue monuments. His public-facing work in the center advocates for including a diversity of living composers in collegiate music curricula and repertoire lists. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in clarinet performance at Stony Brook University.