Alexa Still

  • Professor of Flute
  • Director, Division of Winds, Brass, and Percussion

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 at the State University of New York at 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 (U.S.A.) 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).

Spring 2025

Principal Private Study - Flute — PVST 008

Secondary Private Study - Flute — PVST 058

Orchestra Repertoire for Flute — APST 283

Flute Pedagogy I/II — PACE 314

Chamber Music — APST 800

Fall 2025

Principal Private Study - Flute — PVST 008

Secondary Private Study - Flute — PVST 058

Chamber Music — APST 800

Notes

Alexa Still Performs Work Composed by Colleague

August 21, 2024

Professor of Flute Alexa Still performed Jacarandas, a recent work composed by her colleague Assistant Professor of Composition Michael Frazier, on the August 2 Gala concert of the National Flute Association's 52nd Annual Convention, in San Antonio.

News

Semester Ends with a Packed Performance Calendar

December 8, 2023

Oberlin Conservatory’s student and faculty performers have been filling most concert venues throughout the campus over the last week. During these final five bustling days before students head into reading period and then exams, this explosion of activity feels something akin to the thrilling finale of a fireworks display on New Year's Eve. So, join in—even from a distance. All of these concerts are free and open to the public, and all but one of them can be streamed live at concert time at oberlin.edu/livestream .

Oberlin Music Label Releases “Wish: Music of Valerie Coleman”

May 25, 2023

Flute Professor Alexa Still collaborates with pianist Evan Hines '16 in seven works for flute written by composer Valerie Coleman—some inspired by poems of Maya Angelou and Fred D'Aguiar; album also features the readings of these poems by Oberlin's President Carmen Ambar.

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