Michael Lynn

  • Professor of Recorder and Baroque Flute

Areas of Study

Education

  • BS, Oakland University, 1976

Biography

Michael Lynn performed for the inaugural luncheon for President Barack Obama’s first term and has given concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Taiwan, and Japan with Apollo’s Fire, Mercury Baroque, ARTEK, Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Tafelmusik, American Baroque Ensemble, Handel & Haydn Society, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Cleveland Opera, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and many other ensembles.

He teaches each summer at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute and has taught other workshops throughout the country. Lynn previously taught at the University of Michigan, Oakland University, Case Western Reserve University, and at the Recorder Institute of Indiana University.

Known for his knowledge of historical flutes, Lynn maintains a website—www.originalflutes.com—based on his flute collection and presents lectures and demonstrations about the history of the flute. His recent presentations include the 19th-century French Flute Extravaganza at Oberlin Conservatory, the International Congress of the National Association for Music Instruments in Tavira, Portugal, and the Early Music Department of the Escola Superior de Música, Artes e Espectáculo in Porto, Portugal.

Lynn previously served Oberlin as associate dean for facilities and technology for 15 years.

Lynn produced a monthly column for Flute Talk magazine and has written feature articles for Traverso, Flute Talk, Flute View, and Oberlin Conservatory Magazine.

He was the founder of Early Music Facsimiles and a founding member of the board of Apollo’s Fire. His recordings can be heard on Wildboar, Gasparo, Eclectra, Koch International, Avie, and other labels.

Notes

Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute Awarded EMA's 2020 Goldberg Award

March 10, 2020

The Early Music America 2020 Laurette Goldberg Award, for achievement in early music outreach, has been awarded to the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute (BPI). The summer institute's faculty is led by Artistic Director Kenneth Slowik and four Oberlin Conservatory faculty members who make up the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble—Mark Edwards, Michael Lynn, Marilyn McDonald, Catharina Meints. 

Oberlin's BPI was created in 1972 by former Oberlin Conservatory oboe professor James Caldwell in order to bring famous Swiss musician, August Wenzinger, to the United States to perform, teach, and conduct. Catharina Meints, who was closely involved with the beginnings of BPI, continues to be the senior faculty member 48 years later.

On behalf of the faculty and participants of BPI, Catharine Meints said: “I can say that we are delighted to receive recognition from EMA for our work over the last 49 years. We are proud of what we have accomplished and are honored to be presented the Goldberg Award.”

Michael Lynn Presents at 2019 ANIMUSIC Conference

October 21, 2019

Recorder and Baroque flute professor Michael Lynn participated in the 2019 ANIMUSIC Organological Congress in Belmonte, Portugal in September. The title of the 8th International Scientific Meeting for Sound and Musical Instrument Studies was "Instruments of culture and peace." Lynn presented a paper, “The flute of Pierre Gabriel Buffardin and his rebirth,” and performed the closing concert with Swiss historic flute specialist Jörg Fiedler. 

Michael Lynn Wins Award from French Instrument Collectors' Association

January 29, 2019

The Association des Collectionneurs d'Instruments de Musique à Vent—France’s Association of Musical Wind Instruments Collectors—recently held a competition for "the most beautiful wind instrument of its members." Michael Lynn, Oberlin Conservatory professor of recorder and Baroque flute, won the award for his Buffet Coché conical Boehm flute on January 23. The instrument will be featured in an upcoming issue of the association's journal, Le Larigot. Lynn will also be giving a presentation on this flute at the conference on Artistic Research in the Field of Early Wind Instruments at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels on February 17. To read more about his research and to hear this rare instrument in performance, visit his website www.originalflutes.com. 
 

Michael Lynn Publishes

July 7, 2016

Michael Lynn, professor of recorder and Baroque flute, has published the article “The Development of the Flute in 19th-Century France” in the summer 2016 issue of The Flutist Quarterly, the official magazine of the National Flute Association (NFA). In the article, Lynn shares a great deal about Oberlin, his flute project and the Selch Collection of American Music History, which was donated by Frederick and Patricia Selch.

NFA members can access the magazine online on this web page.

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