17th annual Flute Day to be conducted in Peru

Registration is open for the 17th annual Flute Day, with workshops from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, and concluding with a concert at 5 p.m. by participants performing the music by guest composer, flutist and Altus artist Phyllis Louke.

Flute Day is hosted at the Congregational Church of Peru and sponsored by Music Suite 408, Altus Flutes Inc, the Illinois Valley Flute Ensemble and Miller Group Charitable Fund with assistance by North Central Illinois ARTworks.

Windy City Flutes, Chicago and the Music Shoppe, Normal will be on-site with flutes and music to sell. Download registration materials at www.408fineartsfactory.com under the “more” option or contact coordinator Sue Gillio at 815-223-4408 or phloot1@aol.com.

The Music of Phyllis Louke concert is at 5 p.m. at the church, 1431 Fourth St., and is open to the public. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for students in kindergarten through college with an ID.

Guest clinicians include Scott Metlicka, Northern Illinois University; Gerald Carey, flute professor emeritus, Western Illinois University; and Louke, an Altus artist, flutist and composer from Portland, Oregon.

Metlicka enjoys a versatile career as a performer, pedagogue, piano accompanist and promoter of live music. He received his Bachelor of Music (performance) degree from Northern Illinois University and Master of Music (performance) degree from Northwestern University in 2002.

Noteworthy engagements include playing bass flute at the 2014 and 2022 National Flute Association Convention and piccolo, flute, alto flute and recorder for the shows “Wicked” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Metlicka has performed as concerto soloist with the symphonies in South Bend, Indiana; Rockford; and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; the Wisconsin Philharmonic; and the Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra (Rockford).

Additional engagements include Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Opera Theater, Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Present Music Milwaukee, Milwaukee Ballet, Madison Symphony and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

During the summer, he has played with the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin, and the Pine Mountain Music Festival in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He currently is a member of the Rockford, Elgin and South Bend symphonies.

Metlicka is the flute instructor at NIU. As an advocate for live music, his chamber music group, Apollo Trio, presents concerts throughout the Midwest.

Carey is mostly retired and lives in Glen Ellyn. Before retirement, he was principal flute of the Quad City Symphony for 29 years. He also has been principal flute of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the New Orleans Summer Pops Orchestra, the Knox-Galesburg Symphony, the Eastman Symphonic Wind Ensemble (under the direction of Frederick Fennell) and the Eastman Philharmonia (under the direction of Howard Hanson).

He has played in the Rochester Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Rochester Civic Orchestra, the New Orleans Opera House Orchestra, the American School Woodwind Quintet (Fountainebleau, France, with Nadia Boulanger) and has performed with the St. Louis Symphony and the New Orleans Philharmonic.

He retired from Western Illinois University, where he was professor of flute and a founding member of the Camerata Woodwind Quintet. Since he is only “mostly” retired, he still teaches Summer Flute Camps in Peru; the Westminster Choir College Conservatory in Princeton, New Jersey; and teaches/coaches/conducts various students and groups in the Chicago area.

Carey also has been a faculty member of the Eastman School of Music, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of Illinois and DePaul University.

He has Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music (a student of Joseph Mariano) and completed his Doctor of Musical Arts studies at the University of Illinois.

Grants and awards received include the Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts from the University of Illinois, the Eastman School Graduate Scholarship and the Eastman School’s Performer’s certificate.

He has presented numerous concerts, recitals and masterclasses from coast to coast in the U.S., South America, Australia, China, Mexico and Europe. He has recorded for Coronet, Mercury, Everest, Music Minus One and Opus One Records.

An active and lifetime member of the National Flute Association, he has served as president (1990-91), convention program chair (1989), member and chairman of the board, competitions coordinator, exhibits coordinator and program book editor. He was awarded the NFA Distinguished Service Award in 2008.

He also is a lifetime member of the Chicago Flute Club and has been a board member and editor of the CFC newsletter, “Pipeline.”

Louke, an Altus artist, is principal flute with the Tilikum Chamber Orchestra and Oregon Symphonic Band, music director of the Rose City Flute Choir and an active chamber musician. She teaches privately, adjudicates and freelances in Portland, Oregon.

Louke, a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, has been arranging and composing for the flute since 1990. Her arrangements and compositions have been winners and finalists in the annual National Flute Association Newly Published Music Competition.

Her music is published by ALRY Publications, Theodore Presser Co., Falls House Press, Nourse Wind Publications and SMP Press. She also has co-written an award-winning series of pedagogical publications with Patricia George published by Theodore Presser.

Music Suite 408 opened in 2012 with six educators and 80 students. The enrichment center of the Illinois Valley now also includes the Westclox Fine Arts Factory, Paintbox Gallery and Music Suite Annex all under the 408 Fine Arts Factory umbrella. It now has 28 educators, more than 600 students and a 10,000-square-foot space offering music instruction, art lessons and group classes, math tutoring, Fly Tying Club, Boppin’ Tots (18 months to age 4), outreach masterclasses, camps and workshops.