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UPCOMING CONCERTS
Ardtornish Castle & Garden Estate,
Private PartyTennessee Tech University
Masterclass
March 18-19, 2011Tennessee State University
Mid-South Flute FestivalMarch 25-26, 2011
James Madison University
FLUTE FLING 2011
Performance & Masterclass
Trinity Milton Church--
Rhonda Larson & Tim Ray
annual convention,
featuring
Rhonda Larson & Ventus, Friday, August 12, 2011download Rhonda's standard biography (one page)
Rhonda's Musical Journey (a more detailed biography)
What Press and Fans are Saying
Rhonda Larson's Musical Journey
(For a more succinct Press version of Rhonda's biography, click here)Rhonda Larson says she was born wanting to play the flute---where that desire came from remains a mystery to her. It was finally at age 10 that Rhonda first picked up a flute, a journey that has taken her to the farthest reaches of the world. Her 'practice room' was a high mountain ridge outside her family home in Bozeman, Montana, where the sky is endless and the breathtaking mountains cut through your soul. It is not difficult, then, to understand that the depths of Rhonda's music comes from a place in her heart that celebrates the beauty of the human spirit, found most alive in nature.
In addition to learning from stellar teachers in Montana, Rhonda gathered further education from live Public Radio broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic, which she could only listen to from one small corner of her parents' bedroom--the only location in her entire house where the FM broadcast could be audibly tuned in. There she sat, huddled up, listening to the most beautiful music she had yet heard.Rhonda has always been one to follow her own path, that road less traveled--it is perhaps an expected course from any progeny of the wild west. An early indication of Rhonda's unorthodox trail was her declining the invitation to attend Juilliard. Instead, she chose to remain in the inspirational, natural surroundings of the west and study at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.
In her final year there, she won the prestigious National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition, which included a Carnegie Hall recital debut. Not only is she to date the youngest winner in the history of the competition, but the year she won, the second place winner happened to be a student from Juilliard. Everyone said of Rhonda, "Who is this girl? Where did she come from?"
Devouring the classical flute repertoire, Rhonda was always in search of new musical challenges. In a New York Flute Club interview, she said, "I began to see that music has a larger role for humanity: that it can truly speak to the shared expressions of our human souls." This evolving philosophical foundation of her music was about to be played out in the next step of her musical journey....
In her final month of university in Moscow, Idaho, Rhonda was discovered by Paul Winter, who immediately invited her to join the Paul Winter Consort. Ironically, her first tour with them was to Moscow, Russia. Rhonda launched on a non-stop touring and recording career with this innovative group.
After eight years with the Consort and a newly-won Grammy Award, Rhonda set out on her own to put to work the breadth of learning from her time with the Consort. She knew only one thing for sure: her music could no longer be confined to only one genre. She began composing tailor-made music suited to her technical prowess, and learning ethnic flutes from around the world while immersing herself in the archives of indigenous folk music.
Rhonda formed her band, Ventus, established her own music publishing company, Wood Nymph Music, and continues performing and teaching masterclasses across the globe. She conducts a weeklong masterclass every two years near her second home in Italy. Rhonda performed in South Africa's Parliament of the World's Religionswhere she shared the stage with such luminaries as Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama, but she doesn't take herself too seriously---she performed with the same gusto at NBC's finale broadcast of Survivor at Madison Square Garden, as seen by over 40 million viewers.
What Press and Fans are Saying
"Rhonda's evening of flute music radiated. There was a straightforward positive musicality to what she did and it cheered the listener."
---The New York Times
"Rhonda Larson's flute playing is extraordinary."
---C.J. Gianakaris, Kalamazoo Gazette…"What Larson does is to use works of the past as the base on which to build her own flights. And what flights they are! This handsome sylph with the cascade of blond curls and the articulate manner shows not only remarkable technique but great musicality…Part mystic, part leprechaun, here is a woman who bridges worlds."
--Frank Merkling, The News-Times
"The beautiful young sorceress held aloft her magic wand and enchanted the audience…creating
a world of pure tone and emotion."
----The Anchorage Times
"Without a doubt, one of the world's most gifted flutists…unbound by musical genres."
---Robert Walmsley, Musical Soundscapes"It took mere moments for everyone to let go and happily succumb to a performer who plays flute the way it should be played, from the inside out."
---Pauline Durichen, Kitchener-Waterloo Record"You are truly a great player, an emotional player, elegant and graceful."
---A fan from California"…played with much passion and virtuosity…very inspiring."
---A fan from Texas
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