Tracy Harris and the Wyndfall Flute Orchestra have won bids to perform, present and conduct at the prestigious National Flute Association Convention to be held August 7-10 in Chicago. This convention draws from the international flute and music community, with the attendance this year expected to exceed 10,000.
Harris, who lives in Exeter, is a highly sought-after soloist, chamber musician and clinician performing on piccolo, C flute, alto flute and bass flute. Performing internationally on piccolo to low flutes, she gives numerous solo performances, chamber recitals, clinics, flute boots and master classes. She has soloed with many symphony orchestras from the Santa Barbara Symphony to the Pacific Coast Symphony, and has held many first chair positions, including the Santa Maria Symphony and the West Coast Symphony. She is currently alto flutist and soloist in residence with the Tulare Symphony.
Harris is the artistic director and founder of the Tracy Harris Flute Boot Camps, which help over a thousand underprivileged flutists each year (www.FluteBoot.com), as well as the Wyndfall Chamber Music Series that performs to sold-out audiences each season.
She records on the Elite Source Label and her latest CD, “Iroquois Suite,” released in August 2012, features works by Herman Beeftink, major motion picture composer for such films as “X-Men” and “Lions for Lambs.” Her newest Wyndfall Duo release is the album Eklectick, recorded in partnership with concert pianist Svetlana Harris.
Harris studied at the New England Conservatory of Music with Claude Monteux and at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was a student of Yamaha Artist Julius Baker, Jim Walker and Jill Felber. She has received Performance Grants from organizations such as the Pillsbury Foundation, the National Arts and Letters Society, the Scandinavian Foundation and the Santa Barbara Foundation.
Harris has performed on NPR and at NFA conventions and is also the founder of “The Tracy Harris Flute Master Class” series. She has worked with notables such as Jim Walker, Tadeu Coelho, Jill Felber, Mary Karen Clardy and piccolo legend Nicola Mazzanti. She recently premiered three works with Mazzanti by Todd Harris, one of which was showcased at James Galway’s International Master Class in Switzerland. Performances can be seen on YouTube.
As the artistic director for the Wyndfall Conservatory, Harris teaches flute and piccolo and is also in the award winning Wyndfall Trio with Concert Pianist Svetlana Rudikova Harris and Concert Harpist Wendy LeBlanc.