History of Flutissimo
In 1997 Flutissimo! Flute Choir began with 8 members under the name of Mid-Cities Flute Choir. Three of those members, Kathleen Holley, Janice Spooner, and Cheryl Stewart, are still performing with the group. In three years our numbers had grown to 16 including two alto flutes, we had an actual conductor, and our name changed to what it is today.
Our first conductor was George Virgili, former band director at Richland H.S. and now deceased. Our second condutor was Mark Chandler, currently the Fine Arts Director of HEB ISD. Flutissimo! grew to about 20 people when Tom Connelly, music teacher at TCC-S, was the director.
Marco Jerez became our director in the fall of 2009 and helped our group grow to about 25 people, taking us for the first time as a performing group to the National Flute Association (NFA) Annual Convention in Charolotte, N.C. in 2011 and again to Chicago in 2014.
In the fall of 2014, Felix Torres became our conductor. By his fifth year with us, we had grown to over 30 performers, and in 2017 he took us to NFA in Minneapolis for our third national performance. The National Flute Association's convention is the world's largest flute convention in the world, with the 2nd largest being the Texas Flute Society Festival held in Denton, TX, every May.
Being selected to perform at NFA is a highly regarded achievement that solidifies our place in the flute playing world and skyrockets our abilities to the next level.
Our wonderful conductors have taken us to the Texas Flute Festival where Flutissimo! has won Outstanding Amateur Ensemble consecutively since 2008.
In 2014 we had our first commissioned piece by low flutist Chris Potter, "Tres Ratitas Ciegas", a Mexican-style version of "3 Blind Mice". We have had composers from all over the U.S., Peru, and from England and Scotland send us compositions.
Alexander Abbott from Scotland not only writes for us, but in 2011 came to Texas to conduct two of his pieces.
Flutissimo! is now under the leadership of Veronica Mascaro, herself a world-renowned flutist.
Flutissimo! Flute Choir is a success story of nearly 25 years!
Past Programs
