Alexa Still

  • NEA Conservatory Associate Professor of Flute

Areas of Study

Education

  • BM, Auckland University, 1983
  • MM, State University of New York, 1985
  • DMA, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1990

Biography

Alexa Still is known internationally for her many recordings on the Koch International Classics label. A New Zealander, she took up graduate studies in New York (SUNY Stony Brook), where she also won competitions including the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition and the East and West Artists Competition. Still returned home to be principal flute of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Increasing solo engagements eventually led her to the more flexible schedule of a teaching position at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She moved to Sydney in 2006, where she became professor of flute and director of performance research at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In June 2011, Still was appointed associate professor of flute at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Still maintains a busy concert schedule, having presented recitals, concertos, and master classes in England, Germany, Slovenia, Turkey, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Canada, Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, and across the United States. 

She also has served her profession as president of the National Flute Association (USA), and regularly contributes articles to flute journals across the globe. She plays a silver flute made for her by Brannen Brothers of Boston with gold or wooden headjoints by Sanford Drelinger of White Plains, New York. When her flute is in its case, Still is an avid motorcyclist, and she shares a daughter and two dogs with her husband.

Still won principal flute of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the age of 23. While home, she received a Churchill Fellowship and a Fulbright award, used for further study in the US.

Still has been described as: “impeccable in technique and taste, seductive in phrasing” (Stephensen Classical CD Guide). “Still plays... so convincingly I cannot separate her from the music” (American Record Guide), “whatever she plays sounds musical in every turn of the phrase” (Gramophone), “a stunning showcase for the astonishing Alexa Still” (Fanfare). 

Her 13th solo compact disc (concertos including the Pied Piper Fantasy) was released in September 2004 to unanimous acclaim: “Anyone who doubts Still’s dumbfounding technical ability or complete tonal control should hear these… You just won’t hear better-sustained flute playing on disc than this” (Fanfare Magazine). 

Still’s 14th CD was released in January 2008 (music for flute and piano with New York-based English pianist Stephen Gosling). “Both performers are constantly praised for their technical prowess and amazing ability to make the most challenging works sound effortless and easy. 

Reviewers everywhere agree that Alexa Still doesn’t make anything sound tough. She gracefully sprints and hurdles through menacing challenges without seeming to break a sweat. Added to this technical superiority comes an equally superior sensitive musical side. This disc isn’t just flautistic fireworks.” (Sequenza21).

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