This preview has been provided by the Eastern Music Festival.
Faculty artist Les Roettges, flute, joins EMF’s pre-professional orchestra to perform Liebermann’s Flute Concerto, op. 39. Other works will include Triana (from Suite Iberia) by Albéniz, arranged by Arbós, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6 in D major, op.60.
Les Roettges, principal flute of the Eastern Music Festival, has been principal flute of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra since 1986. A native of Ohio, Mr. Roettges became a student of The Cleveland Orchestra’s Maurice Sharp at age 15. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory and a master’s from The Juilliard School, and he studied for a year in Paris. His teachers include Paula Robison, Julius Baker, Alain Marion, and Robert Stallman. Mr. Roettges was the winner of the first annual James Papoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition. He is a regular participant in the Amelia Island (FL) Chamber Festival, the Madison (GA) Festival, and the Saint Augustine (FL) Festival and has participated in the Colorado Music Festival, the Bowdoin (Maine) Chamber Music Festival, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. Before taking the position in Jacksonville, he performed as the principal flute for the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mexico City, Solisti New York, the Opera Ensemble of New York, Bel Canto Opera Company of New York, the Boston Philharmonic, and many other freelance orchestras in New York and Boston. This is his tenth season with EMF.
The Eastern Music Festival’s mission is to promote musical enrichment, excellence, professional collaboration, innovation, and diversity through a nationally-recognized teaching program, music festival, concerts, and other programs which will enhance the quality of life, health, and vitality of our region. The Eastern Music Festival and School, founded in 1961 in Greensboro, North Carolina by Sheldon Morgenstern, is an internationally-renowned classical music festival and institute for young musicians that runs for five weeks each summer. The institute accepts students ages 14 through 22 from around the country and the world. The EMF faculty consists of world-class performing artists selected from top orchestras and music schools nationally and internationally. Led by music director Gerard Schwarz, the Eastern Music Festival and School celebrates its 51st season in 2012.