The New York Flute Club
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Founded in 1920 by eminent flutist Georges Barrère, composer Lamar Stringfield, and a group of their associates, The New York Flute Club is the oldest such organization in the United States.
Barrère's idea in starting the Club was to provide a common meeting ground for professional, student, and amateur; a place where less experienced players could hear new and unusual music for the flute as well as the classic repertory played by fine artists; a place where all might find performance opportunities helpful to the development of their own talents.
Today, the Club sponsors
We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions about the Club or this website. Please contact us.
The New York Flute Club
Park West Finance Station
P.O. Box 20613
New York, NY 10025-1515
The 2010 New York Flute Fair will be held on Sunday, March 28 at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Jean Ferrandis, professor of flute at the Ecole Normal in Paris, will be our guest artist. Details about the various concerts, workshops, exhibits and the NYFC Competition are now available, the registration form will be available shortly.
A Young Musicians Contest will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2010, from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. There will be four categories: ages 8 and under, 9 to 11, 12 to 14, and 15 to 17 years old (based on age as of February 28). The winners from each category will receive a medal and perform at the Flute Fair on March 28. In order to enter, contestants must pay a $25 entrance fee and have a teacher who is a New York Flute Club member. Last year’s winners are not eligible to compete in the same age category. The registration form may be found on the contest page. For more information, please contact contest coordinator Susan Friedlander at sjkoz@yahoo.com.
Albert Weatherly, longtime, esteemed member of the New York flute community and the American flute community at large, died of pneumonia on December 17 at the age of 85. He was famous not only for his excellent repair work and business practices but also as a mentor and friend to both his customers and his colleagues.
As Mara Goosman, of Butterfly Headjoints, says in an extended obituary that she is preparing for publication, Al Weatherly was a rather private person who much preferred to talk about the mechanical problems of the flute rather than reminisce about his life. However, information on both of these topics (including his Oklahoma youth, Juilliard years as a student of Georges Barrère, and apprenticeship under Verne Q. Powell) can be found in an April 2004 NYFC Newsletter interview (78kb PDF).
As Jayn Rosenfeld wrote in the NYFC Newsletter from October 2002: "A most important New Yorker–who can be said to have carried on, to have been sensitive, and creative at all points–is ALBERT WEATHERLY. The Flute Club's first concert this fall will be dedicated to a celebration of his fifty years (to date) as a New York flute repairman and dealer. Al undertook his flute apprenticeship with Verne Powell himself, spending seven years in Boston under Mr. Powell. He played professionally for a time in the Minneapolis Symphony and kept his chops all these years, so that he is quite virtuosic as he rattles around looking for tiny imperfections in a customer's flute. His clientele includes hundreds, if not thousands, of flutists from all over the world. Al has been the most careful and honest workman, a modest and loyal friend, an extraordinary resource for American and visiting flutists. He has loaned instruments to the needy, trusted anyone who needed trust, shown interest in young and beginning students as well as the great and famous, been sympathetic (but realistic) with all his customers. I have known Al and taken advantage of his expertise for 40 years! What a unique gift to have had a trustworthy friend and workman for so long. In my house he is known as the flute psychiatrist. When I dropped and destroyed a precious gold Sankyo two years ago, Al tried to repair the headjoint, tried to recycle some of the gold; in his dry calm way, he was infinitely sympathetic, though it must have hurt him too to be handling such a corpse. Let us all celebrate Albert Weatherly for his care and humor and excellence and constancy."
Readers interested in learning more about Al Weatherly or in sharing anecdotes of their own are invited to visit a "Remembering Albert Weatherly" webpage hosted by Anne Pollack. Readers interested in contacting Mara Goosman can email her at maragoosman@sympatico.ca.
The Club is proud to announce publication of a two-CD compilation of solo and chamber music performances by our longtime member and colleague Samuel Baron. It includes many live concert performances with the Bach Aria Group, Jean-Pierre Rampal, and other noted artists, as well as rare and out-of-print commercial recordings ranging from Bach and Telemann to Varèse and Alec Wilder. This project represents nearly ten years of work by Sam’s friends, colleagues, and family, and we are very grateful for their efforts. The CDs will be available for purchase at all Club events, or you may mail us a check with this downloadable order form (PDF, requires Acrobat Reader). NYFC members receive a $5 (16%) discount off the $30 list price.
The Club mourns the death of pioneering flutist Frances Blaisdell, a member of the New York Flute Club since 1928. Please see the full obituary, including photos and programs from our archives. Her life and accomplishments were previously celebrated in our April 2005 newsletter (600KB PDF ) by Barbara Highton Williams. Tributes will be published in the newsletter and in the NFA's Flutist Quarterly.
