Northwestern State University of Louisiana

01/24/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/25/2025 13:49

Northwestern State University to host Louisiana Flute Festival

NATCHITOCHES - The Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts at Northwestern State University will host the Second Louisiana Flute Festival on Saturday, Feb. 1 in Magale Recital Hall.

The event will include concerts, masterclasses, workshops, a flute choir and exhibits. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. Participation is free. For more information, go to nsuflutefest.com. The event is being organized by NSU Assistant Professor of Flute Dr. Stephen Clark.

Guest artists will be Giovanni Perez of Liberty University and Ji Weon Ryu, principal flute of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Albany Philharmonic Orchestra. They will perform at 2 p.m.

Perez is a Latin Grammy nominated flutist and producer. At Liberty, he teaches applied flute lessons, music production, songwriting, improvisation, global music entrepreneurship and collaborates in different projects.

As a composer, his music has been performed in the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Lee University in Tennessee, National Flute Association, Slippery Rock University, International Clarinet Association, International Double Reed Society, University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, the University of Arkansas, and in Turkey.

Pérez has traveled the U.S., Turkey, Puerto Rico, and Finland offering masterclasses and workshops in improvisation and contemporary music. Pérez completed his doctoral degree with Carol Wincenc and Ray Anderson at Stony Brook University. Pérez is a founding member of the Victory Players, a Pierrot ensemble that commissions music from minority/under-represented composers.

Admired for her "pure poetry" and "beautiful technique and sound" (NFA Chronicle), Ryu is the principal flute of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra since 2019 and is the first Asian wind principal of their history and first Korean member of the century to join the orchestra.

Ryu has performed with distinguished ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, Chautauqua, Princeton, and Syracuse symphonies, and the Verbier Festival Orchestra and has been a soloist with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Chamber Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. As a soloist, and chamber and orchestral musician, she has performed in venues including Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Dvorak Hall (Prague), The John F. Kennedy Center, Musikverein (Vienna), and Seoul Arts Center.

Ryu has won First Prize at the 2017 Artur Balsam Duo Competition, the 2016 New York Flute Club Competition, and the 38th National Flute Association Soloist Competition along with the Best Performance of Newly Commissioned Piece Award and has received the 2017 Young Artist Award from the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation in South Korea.

Ryu has performed extensively as a recitalist and a chamber musician all over the US and South Korea. She regularly tours with the Frisson, an "explosive" New York City-based chamber ensemble as a founding member and is a co-founder and the artistic committee of the Ensemble Blank, a contemporary group based in Seoul that strives to push boundaries of classical music repertoire and searches for unconventional concert venues.