Artist Bio
Amy Ziegelbaum
Amy Ziegelbaum, flutist, is a frequent recitalist and active recording artist in the New York metropolitan area, whose performances have been recognized across the United States. She is a founding member of FEMMES FOUR FLUTE QUARTET (formerly Flute Cocktail), a powerful and energetic ensemble performing on flute, piccolo, alto and bass flute, and committed to commissioning and performing works by New York composers, as well as works spanning the centuries. The Quartet won the prestigious Artists International New York Debut Winners Series. The Quartet presented their debut concert at Weill Recital Hall in 2004, with the second of this series taking place in New York in 2006.
FEMMES FOUR has launched a children's chamber music series, the Chocolate Chip Concert Series, and was recently selected as a recipient of a Residency Partnership Program Grant through Chamber Music America for 2008 and 2009 (funding provided by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and the Chamber Music America Residency Endowment Fund). CMA, the national service organization for the ensemble music profession, issues this particular grant to provide communities with greater access to live chamber music, beyond performances in a concert hall, thus ensuring that chamber music, in its broadest sense, is a vital part of American life.
The quartet is partnering with Metropolitan Child Services Inc., a non-profit that provides early-childhood education services (including health, nutrition and social services) to over 200 multicultural/bilingual children, some of whom are developmentally delayed. The residency will place the quartet in Vernon Children’s School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where they will perform for kindergartners through third graders. The ensemble’s goal through the residency is to bring an enriching, high quality, live classical chamber music experience to these underserved students. Femmes Four has committed to presenting a multi-faceted program in three components over the course of 12 visits during the 2008-09 school year. Who in the World?, Where in the World? and What in the World?, will allow them to engage students in storytelling through music, cross-cultural appreciation, and modern compositions highlighting the creative process.
Ms. Ziegelbaum's most recent CD, Blessings of Beauty: A Classic Collection of Judaic Gems by Kurt Weill, Salamone Rossi, Morton Gould, Billy Joel, David Amram, and more... with pianist Laura Leon was released on the Musical Tapestries Inc. label to international acclaim. She has performed with noted orchestras, chamber ensembles and opera companies, including the Riverside Orchestra, Island Lyric Opera Company and St. Martin's Symphony. She appeared as both performer and commentator on network and cable television and can also be seen and heard nationally on a variety of commercial and film recordings.
Ms. Ziegelbaum's recorded performances can be heard in the 2006 Emmy award-winning documentary A Hidden Life, which was broadcast on PBS. Her active summer music festival appearances include the Chautauqua, Vermont and International Oceania Arts Festival.
Ms. Ziegelbaum has an active teaching studio, and has been on the panel of judges for the Young Prodigy Series in Long Island for the past three years. In addition, she initiated a special music program at the Andrus Children's Center in Westchester. With the support of grants, underwriting, and collecting instruments from throughout the New York metropolitan area, she helped to establish a unique flute program for children with special needs. Ms. Ziegelbaum studied with Samuel Baron, Karl Kraber, and Julius Baker and received a Music and Performing Arts degree from Barnard College, Columbia University.
Artist Interview
Amy Ziegelbaum
We had the opportunity to ask Amy a few questions. Check out her thoughts on practicing alto flute, commissioning new works as well as her experience establishing a special education flute program.
1. Your flute quartet, Femmes Four, has been involved in commissioning new works for flute quartet by living American composers. What sort of process and detail goes into a project like this?
When my flute quartet, Femmes Four, won the Artists International Chamber Music Award in 2003, we decided to commission a new piece for our Weill Hall Recital. We put out a call for scores in the NFA Quarterly and through a number of contemporary composers’ publications, dug into our own pockets to fund the project, and the scores started to come in by the dozens. After months of reading through and reviewing submissions, many of which were outstanding, we ended up with two new pieces for flute quartet: “In the Cave of Aeolus” by Steven Rosenhaus, and “So Calamari (SOCA)” by Dan Cooper. Subsequently we commissioned a quartet by Leo Kraft, “Partita 6”; and several arrangements, including an exciting Latin American work arranged for us by Pablo Mayor. We have also worked closely with other contemporary composers, including Allen Brings, Ed Smaldone and Mikael Karlsson. We are committed to supporting and performing contemporary works, and we are proud that our efforts have produced valuable additions to the repertoire.
2. You’ve arranged Classical/Jewish music for flute, flute choir and piano on Blessings of Beauty, the first CD of its kind, and it has been extremely successful. How did you go about doing this and how has it affected you as a classical player?
As a professional flutist, I have had many opportunities to program and perform music for services and other occasions in synagogues and churches. I was fortunate to have access to a huge and varied collection of Jewish music – much of it choral -- spanning the centuries, from Salamone Rossi to Kurt Weill and David Amram. The lyrical nature of so much of this music lent itself quite naturally to the flute—I have always felt that in terms of playing an instrument, the flute is the closest you can come to voice. The decision to make a Jewish - Classical crossover CD was based upon my love for the music as well as an opportunity to produce a CD which would be the first of its type--an instrumental CD with a Jewish theme, focusing on flute--and arranging the choral parts for a variety of flutes, which I recorded on separate tracks to achieve the effect of a flute choir in the background. Part of the appeal of the CD, Blessings of Beauty, is that it is not what you would think of as your typical, traditional Jewish music (i.e., Klezmer, Choral, Cantorial, etc.) , and, as the old Levy's Jewish Rye Bread commercial said, "You Don't Have To Be Jewish To Love It!" The music is transcendent and timeless, and the reviews have been fabulous. Blessings of Beauty has been successful beyond my wildest dreams, reaching #1 on the Jewish sound boards. When programming concerts based on that CD, I weave the Jewish works in with purely classical works, creating a balanced and unique kind of musical tapestry.
3. Your flute quartet, Femmes Four, recently completed a one-year residency awarded from Chamber Music America at an elementary school in Brooklyn. Your multi-faceted program allowed students to engage in storytelling through music, cross-cultural appreciation and modern compositions highlighting the creative process. What was the most memorable part of this experience? What did you learn?
My quartet, Femmes Four, had a wonderful experience performing our outreach. One of our concerns, initially, was whether or not we would be able to bring these underserved children to a place where they could appreciate classical music. I think we were all surprised by how eager they were -- not only to have us as guests in their school -- but also how transfixed they became while we performed. The kids were amazingly attentive throughout our programs and were clearly enjoying themselves. When we gave them opportunities to respond to questions, they came up with such astute and imaginative observations. And I think the most rewarding part of the outreach was interacting with the children after we finished performing. The kids were intrigued, and so happy to come up and speak with us informally. It was truly gratifying to make that connection. We came away with the knowledge that no matter where you come from, music speaks to the human spirit and resonates with all of us.
4. You perform quite a bit on your Miyazawa Alto flute with your flute quartet. How is your approach to practicing alto flute different than practicing c flute?
A somewhat wider embouchure combined with the use of more air at a slower airspeed are the cornerstones of playing alto flute. I have found it to be absolutely essential to practice using a tuner, as the upper registers can be seriously out of tune on alto flute. The use of alternative fingerings, especially in the upper range of alto, can also be quite helpful. Unlike the C flute, the upper octaves are the weakest and most out of tune on alto flute; however, it is well worth the extra effort, as the higher notes on alto, when played properly, have a uniquely beautiful and ethereal quality to them. My passion for the alto flute has inspired me to arrange a variety of works written originally for other instruments (voice, French horn, cello, etc.), and I hope to publish a volume of my arrangements for alto flute in the near future.
5. You recently established and implemented a special education flute program at The Andrus Childrens Center, a therapeutic residential and day school in Westchester for Emotionally Disturbed children. Can you discuss the challenges, rewards, how & why you did it, what you learned, etc. with your experience?
While a student at Barnard College/Columbia University, I took a psychology course and did a clinical internship in music therapy, working with non-verbal autistic children in NYC. Though I did not continue on in the field of music therapy, I was profoundly moved by the power of music in working with Special Needs children. Many years later, my youngest son was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome and Asperger’s Syndrome (high functioning autism), and he attended a therapeutic school for children with special needs, many of whom were labeled Emotionally Disturbed. I wrote a proposal to start a flute program at the school, and I volunteered my time, dedicating two days each week to teaching flute individually and in small groups. I solicited donations of flutes -- in any condition – through musical organizations, colleagues and instrument dealers with whom I had a relationship, and I the response was overwhelmingly positive: Jeff Weissman, President of JBW Music Company, generously donated a number of student flutes, and he worked many unpaid hours fixing up the used instruments. The challenges were enormous. Since every special needs student has unique learning issues, I quickly found that each student required a tailor-made instruction method to compensate for learning deficits. I ended up writing my own method book as I worked with these students.
Additionally, I needed to incorporate a behavioral approach to deal with conditions including Attention Deficit Disorder, Depression, Rage Outbursts, Asperger’s Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome and much more. I learned on the job, with guidance from mental health professionals at the school, and I drew upon techniques I had learned from parenting my own special needs child -- and the results were intensely gratifying. “The Orchard School Flute Stars” performed several times a year, and at the end of two years, the school was awarded a grant which partnered them with a local music academy, thereby expanding the program and, additionally, providing music lessons to the residential students whose behaviors were so unmanageable as to require their removal from their homes. The power of music to heal, focus, motivate and inspire was palpable and tangible at the Orchard School. My experience at Andrus teaching special ed flute was intensely gratifying, and it gave me new insight into teaching my regular students, thereby influencing and shaping my personal teaching style into one which has become more creative, individualized, joyful and intuitive.
On a very personal note, playing and teaching music has been a source of strength for me in the wake of tragedy. When my 17-year-old son died unexpectedly 3 years ago (sudden cardiac death), my world was shattered; the agony I felt was beyond description. I cried for at least a year--maybe longer--yet I played my first concert following my son's death a mere three weeks later. Though I remember how difficult it was for me to gather the strength to play the concert, and I sobbed intermittently onstage (hidden somewhat by the 80 concert band musicians surrounding me), I believe that in by playing that first concert, I was making a decision to be strong, to work hard to rejoin the world of the living--in part because I had been given a gift--so music played a huge role for me in healing. In fact, Femmes Four performed two premieres at the NFA in Pittsburgh three months after my loss; I know my son would have been proud of me. And though I did initially cut back my teaching schedule drastically, there was one student I continued teaching. This young flutist's positive attitude, amazing progress and deep love of the flute gave me a bit of happiness when I felt overwhelming sadness; I am proud that this student has just entered a conservatory, and I'm certain she will spread the joy and power of music to future generations of flutists.
6. How did you come to choose Miyazawa as your flute of choice?
I have three sisters, and of the four of us, three of us are flutists! When my sister in Madison, WI, was shopping for a flute, she gave me the job of picking out an instrument for her. Little did I know that I would fall in love with a Miyazawa and end up buying two: one for my sister and another one for myself! I tried dozens of flutes and found the Miyazawas to be uniquely superior in their responsiveness and range of color and expression. Shortly thereafter, when I was in the market for an alto flute for the recording of Blessings of Beauty, I found the Miyazawa to be unlike any other…easy to play with a beautiful, rich sound and great mechanism…and once again I fell in love! My Miyazawa alto flute is actually my favorite flute, and as a result, I have chosen to play mostly alto flute in my quartet.
7. If you had one piece of advice to give an upcoming flutist, what would you tell them?
There are many roads to take as a professional flutist. Not all of them start or end with an orchestral job. If you are passionate about playing the flute, don't let anything stop you! Be creative...think outside of the box...and follow your heart. To the students who are not on the professional track, I would say, if you love to play the flute, don't stop! Just because you are a doctor or a lawyer, it doesn't mean that you are not still a flutist. There is no shame to being a devoted amateur! Playing flute as an adult provides enormous opportunity for growth, socializing, and, as you age, it will keep you mentally fit.