Well, this was to have gone out on her birthday earlier this week, but I got distracted/tied up… I just thought I would kick off a series of blog entries on some of the wonderful flutists here in Portugal who are Powell players, and who better to start with than my wonderful colleague Stephanie Wagner?
Stephanie has been the flutist of the Remix Ensemble of the Casa da Música in Porto for over ten years (congratulations!!). So obviously she has a special interest in contemporary music, and as a Remix member, she has performed solo works, as soloist, and in ensemble pieces of all kinds all over Europe! You can check out some of her recordings on her website, of course!
Furthermore, Stephanie was the "driving force" behind the creation of the Summer Flute Academy (Academia de Flauta de Verão), which will celebrate it's 5th edition next July. Together with myself and the fabulous Raquel Lima (Prof. at ESMAE, Porto), Stephanie brought to fruition a dream of making a new kind of summer flute course, where students are constantly challenged, and where they spend most of the day on their feet playing, and also learning about many "lateral" aspects of being a musician. Thank you Stephanie for having so many great ideas, and for inviting us on board for the ride!
Stephanie plays on a Powell flute that she bought while she was studying at the New England Conservatory with (Powell player) Fenwick Smith (2nd Flute of the Boston Symphony), as well as a Powell Piccolo. She is also a big proponent of "low flutes" and plays and is the representative in Portugal for the alto, bass and contrabass flutes of Eva Kingma, of Holland. Talk about versatile! For more information on someone having a very interesting and creative career, see Stephanie's website as well as our revamped site of the Academy!
Stephanie Wagner, Powell player, Remix Ensemble; Photo ©Susana Neves