Flute Master Class With Tracy Harris

Class Information:

Contact Information

Master Class Staff:

Tracy Harris: Yamaha Performing Artist & Clinician

Tracy Harris has left audiences breathless with her profound and moving interpretation of the great composers from all ages. Her concerts are typically given thumbs up by critics across the country and her versatility has seen her playing with members of Sting on PBS and Disney Studios with equal aplomb. Tracy has been fortunate to have studied with most of the greats of our time, including Dr. Julius Baker, Claude Monteux, James Pellerite, and Jim Walker. In 2002 Tracy was selected by Yamaha to join such great flute artists as Dr. Julius Baker, Jeff Khaner, Brad Garner, Mary-Karen Clardy and Jim Walker to become a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician, a title bestowed on only the best instrumentalists in the world. 

Tracy Harris maintains a large private studio in addition to conducting Yamaha Master Classes/Clinics, and lectures throughout the country.  Ms. Harris is the founder of the Wyndfall Flute Orchestra , now in its seventh year. She is also the director of the popular, annual Tracy Harris Flute Master Class, now held every summer at Cal State Bakersfield, and has had such guest artists as Jim Walker, Mary Karen-Clardy, Tadeo Coelho, and John Barcellona. Ms. Harris is also a very active adjudicator often being asked to judge everything from TKMEA competitions to state band and orchestral solo and band competitions such as CBDA. Ms. Harris has also worked in the studios with such Emmy winning composers as Carl Johnson for Disney and has performed at National Flute Association Conventions. Ms. Harris has performed in such master classes as the Julius Baker Master Class in Carmel and the Western Connecticut State University Julius Baker Master Class as well as master classes given by James Pellerite, Ann Zentner and Jean-Pierre Rampal. Ms. Harris has won many local and national honors including; winner of the National Society of Arts and Letters grant competition, winner of the Pillsbury Foundation scholarship competition eight years in a row, winner of the Santa Barbara Symphony Young Artists competition, winner of Santa Barbara Music Club scholarship, winner of Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Competition, and winner of the American Scandinavian Foundation competition.

Tracy Harris was one of a select few invited to audition for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Lincoln Center and Ms. Harris has performed solo recitals, chamber music, and concertos across the United States and has premiered many new pieces.  As an accomplished soloist and orchestral musician, Tracy has performed concertos or has held principal chairs with many different ensembles such as; the Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Coastal Valley's Symphony, the Tulare County Symphony, the West Coast Symphony, the Santa Barbara Chorale Society, Ojai Requiem Orchestra, Santa Ynez Valley Orchestra, the Santa Maria Symphony and the Tulare Symphony to name but a few.  Ms. Harris  has  served as Artistic Director of the Coastal Valley's Symphony Chamber Series and has performed in many new music premieres with such composers as Patrick Cassidy for his U.S. premiere of  "Famine and Remembrance".  She has also performed in the world premiere of  Phillip  Lasser's  "The Alchemist".  Ms. Harris has made recordings with the Pacific Coast Chamber Orchestra and has recorded for the PCPA Theaterfest for 15 years. 

Ms. Harris is also the Director of Music Theoretic Studies at The Pacific Center for Advanced Studies which was formed in 1993 for the purpose of advancing our knowledge of the world in an environment free of constraints. The center is composed of five advanced institutes, encompassing major segments of contemporary science; The Institute for Mind/Brain Research, The Institute for Computational Neurological Research, The Institute for Theoretical Physics Research, The Institute for Music-Theoretic Research and the the Institute for Information-Theoretic Research. The Pacific Center is dedicated to helping us promote our understanding of the world while improving our lives through research. This research has resulted in hundreds of original papers and a range of other publications aimed at both experts in the various fields and the general public, interested in the results of cutting edge research.

Click here for information about Tracy's Flute Clinics and Masterclasses.
*Tracy plays on a Yamaha heavy Wall, 14K 892 Julius Baker Model Flute with a “K” Cut Headjoint.

back to top

About Dr. John Barcellona, "The Flute Doctor"
Professional Recording Artist and Professor of Flute,
Muramatsu Performing Artist: Guest Artist 2010

Mary Karen Clardy: International Soloist, Chamber Artist , Author, and Teacher, Guest Artist 2010

Mary Karen Clardy, Professor of Flute at the University of North Texas, appears throughout the United States, Great Britain, Europe, the Far East, and South America as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. A frequent performer for the NFA, including Boston, Dallas, Denver, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego, St. Louis, Seattle, Washington, D. C., and Los Angeles, she has also appeared twice at the British Flute Society’s international conventions. Ms. Clardy’s newest recording on the EPR Label (Solos and Sonatinas) features the world premier recording of Steven Harlos’s Sonata Rubata, and she recorded a solo recital of American music for the BBC’s Radio 3, including works of Copland, Liebermann, and Barber. Renowned as a teacher, she regularly gives master classes at home and abroad, including Shanghai’s Conservatory of Music, London’s Royal and Trinity Colleges; Conservatorio da Venizia and Boccherini Institute in Italy; and Oberlin, Yale, and Manhattan Schools. By invitation of the Ministry of Culture, she has taught in Taiwan’s Summer Music Institute, and her students have been prize-winners in competitions throughout the world, including Rampal., NFA, MTNA, Markneukirchen, and Flute Talk. Ms. Clardy’s three books available from European American are in multiple reprint, and her edition of Altès Daily Exercises, published by Leduc, is available for the first time separate from the Complete Method. Recent publications include Classic Duets 2 and Classic Solos for Flute from Universal Edition and Fauré Melodies, Volumes 2 and 3 from Leduc. 2006 scheduled appearances include tours to Brazil, Asia, and Flute!™ Events in California, Colorado, and Texas.

back top

Resident Composer for the Tracy Harris Flute Master Class: Todd Harris

(Click on this link for samples of Dr. Harris's recent musical and literary work.)

Students will have the opportunity to learn a new piece by a contemporary composer who will interact with the student performers and help them to understand the composer’s viewpoint.

Dr. Todd Harris has written music and poetry since his childhood. He lives and works in California, with his family and wife, Svetlana, a Russian Concert pianist. Dr. Harris is a commissioned composer and a research scientist, Director/Physicist at the Pacific Institute For Advanced Studies. He is completing his book on Sonology. His poems have been published in numerous books. Dr. Harris has pioneered in the development of contemporary composition. He developed the Modular Tonal system of composition and has written ten major piano concertos and several orchestral and chamber works using his new system. His works have been performed by major artists and concert orchestras.

Mr. Harris received his B.A. in Physics and Music from the University of California at Santa Barbara where he studied with composer Peter Fricker. He received his PhD. in Music and Literature from Sussex University in England.

Dr. Harris was awarded grants from the Edith Pillsbury Foundation for work on his Modular Tonal System and its application through his Piano Concerto #1. Mr. Harris is registered as a composing member of the Santa Barbara Chapter of the National Federation of Music Clubs. He is also a member of Sigma Pi Sigma, the National Physics Honor Society, and is listed in "Young Community Leaders of America."
In the recent notes written for the premieres of his works in Visalia’s Fox Theatre

Harris Speaks about his Sonology Theory:
"The purpose of all of my theory is to provide the modern composer with a compass, to guide him and to ensure that he will not be left unguided when he wanders from the familiar world of tonality to the new families of notes that make up today’s aesthetic. Modulation is controlled by new and more complete rules, and its underlying principles reborn into the world of modern consonances and dissonances. The New World of today’s sound is as unfamiliar and unexplained as the sounds of Bach’s time, before counterpoint was truly formalized - where formally there were no guides through the wilderness of note mixes which were undefined by traditional or conventional means, Bach brought order and rules to work in his sonic world. Centuries later, faced with a new sound crisis, Schoenberg spoke of his rules as providing an emancipation for dissonance. Today I speak of rebirth and salvation and even re-incarnation of modulation. Our new freedom comes in a time of post-post chromatic, and serial practice. I go beyond but include memes such as traditional scales and church modes. My theory explains musical anomalies of the past, while providing directions for the future. It explains, using recent advances in Brain theory, the discovery of what makes something sonorous versus chaotic or discordant. This understanding gives the composer the ability to govern and control his materials so that he can retain sonorousness without losing personal identity. There is no sacrifice of personal uniqueness - these rules are not stone-dwelling. Rather, the uniqueness will simply sound more controlled and less haphazardly experimental. Composers will understand how to shape their Modulations so that they become a matter of inclusion, and where exclusion is necessary to preserve a desired direction of motion."
 
(Click on this link for samples of Dr. Harris's recent musical and literary work.)

Staff Accompanist for the Tracy Harris Flute Master Class: Concert Pianist, Svetlana Rudikova-Harris

Svetlana "Lana" Harris' performances have been described as "outstanding" and "magical". She has been featured as a concert pianist, choral conductor, composer, vocal music arranger, and vocal accompanist in over 160 concerts in Russia, its adjoining countries such as Ukraine and Georgia as well as the United States. Mrs. Harris has lived in the United States for over 9 years and is well versed in Western pedagogical techniques. Mrs. Harris graduated with the Highest Honors from the Krasnodar Academy of Arts and Culture in Krasnodar, Russia, with a Masters Degree in Piano Performance, Piano Accompaniment and Choral Conducting in 1990. Mrs. Harris served as assistant chairperson of the Opera department in the Academy as well as Chairperson of the Vocal Accompaniment Department. Mrs. Harris has performed with such renowned artists as Alexander Malinin, Concert Pianist with the Moscow Conservatory of Music, Sergei Dorensky, Concert Pianist with the Moscow Conservatory, Natalia Kirichenko, Concert Soloist and Chief of the Vocal department of the Krasnodar Academy of Music. Mrs. Harris is the winner of many competitions, both national and international and has received various gold medal awards for outstanding performance. Mrs. Harris has held the position of staff accompanist for the College of the Sequoias music department and is a highly sought after vocal and instrumental accompanist. She is also the accompanist for Yamaha Performing Artist Tracy Harris and is the pianist in the award winning Wyndfall Trio. Mrs. Harris has played with the Santa Maria Symphony and the Tulare County Symphony among others.
back to top

Staff Accompanist for the Tracy Harris Flute Master Class: Concert Harpist-Wendy Leblanc

Wendy LeBlanc is an accomplished and award winning concert harpist and currently concertizes extensively with her award winning trio called "Wyndfall" performing with her sister Tracy Harris, Yamaha Performing Artist and Concert Flutist, and her sister-in-law Russian concert pianist Svetlana Rudikova-Harris.

Ms. LeBlanc combines extensive experience as a soloist, duo with flute, orchestral, show and chamber musician, performing in concert halls and private venues across the country as well as for hundreds of special events and festivals. As an accomplished soloist and orchestral musician, Wendy has performed concertos or has held principal chairs with many different ensembles including: Coastal Valley’s Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Coast Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Maria Symphony, the Santa Ynez Valley Orchestra, Santa Barbara Harp Ensemble, the Prisms New Music Ensemble, the Music Academy Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Opera Theater, the Lompoc Performing Arts Society, the Town and Gown Chamber Music Series at the Faulkner Gallery, and the Tulare County Symphony Orchestra to name but a few. In addition, Wendy has made recordings with the Pacific Coast Chamber Orchestra and the PCPA Theaterfest and is currently recording with the Wyndfall Trio.

Ms. LeBlanc was invited to attend the Juilliard School of Music when she was just 15, and attended the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She is also a graduate of the famous Music Academy of the West. Ms. LeBlanc has won many local and national honors including; winner of the National Society of Arts and Letters grant competition, winner of the Pillsbury Foundation scholarship competition three years in a row, winner of the UCSB Music Affiliates award, the Music Academy of the West scholarship award, the New England Conservatory of Music scholarship award, and the UCSB Music Affiliates award, to name a few. Wendy is also a member of the Golden Key National Honors Society, and is also a member of the prestigious 3000-member American Harp Society.

Ms. LeBlanc studied harp with master teachers including Ann Hobson-Pilot, renowned recording artist and principal harpist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. Ms. Leblanc also studied with Suzanne Balderston, master harpist, recording artist, composer, and author of numerous books on harp instruction, and master harpist Mary Jane Barton, a professional RCA studio recording artists and Los Angeles Philharmonic performer. Ms. Barton studied under the world-renowned harpist and composer Carlos Salzedo and played under the baton of Leopold Stokowski of the historically renowned NBC orchestra.

Ms. LeBlanc is also a harp instructor, and currently teaches in her private studio in Tulare County. In addition, she owns her own retail business dedicated to the beauty, elegance and long history of the harp called CraftyHarp. Ms. LeBlanc designs all of the original artwork in the Gallery and personally manufactures exclusive gifts and crafts for the harp and music industry. www.CraftyHarp.com.
back to top

Master Class Location and Accommodations (2010)

St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center is a conference and retreat center located in Dunlap, California, 40 miles east of Fresno. Rolling hills, ancient oaks, a small lake, an apple orchard and an olive grove provide gorgeous natural surroundings.

Nestled on 230 acres of what was once a working horse ranch, the lodges, meeting spaces and recreational facilities provide for very comfortable accommodations surrounded by rugged landscape.

	Click Here for Directions