It’s been another fantastic year for Laguna Flutes! We performed a world premiere commission for our December concerts, Come Celebrate Christmas, which was our third commission overall. This work is a beautiful arrangement of three Christmas Carols: O Come, O Come Emmanuel, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and O Come All Ye Faithful by the esteemed composer Phyllis Avidan Louke. Our […]
I’ve always thought that former members of Laguna Flutes are like alumni…they always have a ‘home’ here with our ensemble. Bella Sunshine used to play with us in the early years of our group , back when we still rehearsed in Betsy Foster’s living room (and we had those fun happy hour times after rehearsals…Thank […]
The Christmas season is synonymous with wonderful music. Working with Phyllis Aidan Louke on the commission of Come Celebrate Christmas was pure joy. We decided that this arrangement should be versatile: Not only can it be played from beginning to end, each featured carol can stand on its own if you need a short version […]
This year, Laguna Flutes spring performances included a concert at Heritage Pointe, a retirement home for Jewish senior citizens as well as our first performance at the Nixon Library and Birthplace. Our recital was called Let’s Dance, and included dance inspired music from around the world, encompassing styles from Renaissance dances to jazz inspired grooves. […]
It’s taken me a few years to finally settle in on a seating plan that maximizes the sound of Laguna Flutes. Currently, we use a three row set up, as our enrollment settles in at about 18-23 players each session. I usually run two sessions per year. Fall session begins in early October, working toward […]
We presented a concert at First Presbyterian Church of Fullerton entitled Joyful Noel, along with the Kirk Handbell Choir under the direction of Lynette McGee on December 12th. Our repertory included sacred and secular tunes of the season, along with a joint rendition of Angels from the Realms of Glory for flute ensemble and handbell […]
As I sit here writing to you, I am FINALLY realizing that all the waiting and wondering is nearly over. We are just about ready to start back as a musical ensemble. The insurance company has been contacted and we have liability insurance…Our new church home has been unbelievably gracious about facility usage…I have the […]
What an unusual year it has been musically! For Laguna Flutes, we have postponed all of our spring events due to the unprecedented Covid-19 situation. The NFA convention has been canceled this year….but we are super excited to perform in Washington, DC, next year for the annual convention. I’ve tried to maintain contact with our […]
It’s February and already we’re sensing what our spring concert will sound like! I’m so excited by the progress I’ve heard from our first rehearsal to our second. What makes an ensemble great? Each member has to decide that their musical contributions are equally important…playing first or third is EQUALLY IMPORTANT! Playing a lower numbered […]
Sight-reading was fun last night! We are building our program around a theme of folk songs and nature…and we have picked out 4 works so far…There is one work that is not ‘on theme’ but has some fun tie-ins. So how do I choose music for the group? First of all, I always ask players […]