Brooks de Wetter-Smith to perform flute recital, master class
Flutist Brooks de Wetter-Smith will present a guest artist recital on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. in the Squires Recital Salon on the campus of Virginia Tech. He will be joined by Department of Music faculty members Tracy Cowden, piano and Elizabeth Crone, flute. The program will feature works by Gaubert, Schoenfield, Schocker, and Franck.
De Wetter-Smith, the James Gordon Hanes Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina, is in great demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and master class teacher. His recordings span baroque, romantic, 20th century, and jazz-inspired repertoire, many of which include world premieres and works commissioned by or dedicated to him. His performances have been broadcast live on radio and television, including Radio Bremen, Bavarian Radio, Salzburg Radio, Radio/Television Hong Kong, and Public Broadcasting Service affiliates. Recently, he has been actively engaged in exploring traditional Arabic improvisation techniques, an outgrowth of his long-standing interest in jazz. He has combined his work in the Middle East with the study of Brazilian jazz/folk elements, suggesting a close connection between both Arabic music and western jazz traditions via West Africa. He was awarded a Fulbright Senior Professorship to teach at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich and Cologne as well as the Escola Superior in Lisbon, Portugal, and he is former president of the National Flute Association.
His principal teachers include James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Karlheinz Zöller, Walfrid Kujala, and James Pappoutsakis. He holds a D.M.A. degree from the Eastman School of Music and is the James Gordon Hanes Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
De Wetter-Smith will also present a flute masterclass for the Virginia Tech flute studio on Saturday, Nov. at 10 a.m. in the Squires Recital Salon. The class is free and open to the public.
Tickets for the recital are $5 general and $3 for seniors and students. Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.
Free parking is available in the Squires Lot, located at the corner of College Avenue and Otey Streets, in the Architecture Annex Lot on Otey Street, and the Perry Street/Prices Fork lots. Find more parking information online or call 540-231-3200. Alternative parking is available in the Kent Square parking garage and the Farmers Market metered parking lot, both located on Draper Road. Additional Downtown Blacksburg parking information can be found online.
