Maria Fernanda Castillo
Assistant Professor of flute at University of Tennessee
Biography
Flutist, musicologist and entrepreneur Maria Fernanda Castillo has been offering intentional and meaningful performances that can contribute to the search for balance in the music world. Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Tennessee- Knoxville, and co-founder of the Latin American Music Initiative, Maria has found approaches to teaching, research, and performances that highlight unique and creative approach to music programming.
Hailed by the New York Times as a flutist who performs with “…virtuoso panache,” Maria debuted in New York City with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas in 2008, under Alondra de la Parra. Additionally, in 2009 she had her professional debut as a soloist in Venezuela with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra under Mtro. Carlos Riazuelo. She has also performed as a soloist with the Caracas Municipal Symphony under Mtros. Rodolfo Saglimbeni and her husband, Régulo Stabilito. Her latest collaboration include the performance of Shadow of Sirius for flute and wind ensemble by Joel Puckett with the University of Tennessee Wind Ensemble conducted by John Zastoupil.
As an orchestral musician, Maria frequently performs with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. She has served as principal flute in orchestras in Venezuela, México and the United States. She was the Associate Principal of the Caracas Municipal Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the Venezuelan Symphony, the Venezuela National Philharmonic, the Miami City Ballet, the New World Symphony, the Sphinx Symphony, the Mazatlán Sinfonietta, the “Sinaloa de las Artes” Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Baton Rouge Symphony, the Acadiana Symphony and the Lake Charles Symphony.
A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Maria began her flute studies at nine with Venezuelan flutist Luis Julio Toro. She holds a Bachelors, Specialist, and Doctorate of Music degrees from the University of Michigan as a student of Amy Porter; a Masters of Music from the University of Miami under Christine Nield-Capotee; and a Masters in Latin American Musicology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela.
Maria currently resides in Knoxville Tennessee, where she divides her time between her work as an educator and performer, walking her puppy Coda and reading!
Terri Sundberg
Professor of Flute at University of North Texas
Biography
Terri Sundberg is professor of flute at the University of North Texas College of Music and a member of the Crested Butte Opera Orchestra and Crested Butte Festival Symphony Orchestra. She has been a featured concerto soloist at the Jeju International Music Festival in Korea, recipient of a State Department grant for recent performing and teaching in China and has performed extensively in New York City as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, including performances at Lincoln Center/Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall and Carnegie Hall. She is a former member of the North Coast Chamber Players, a mixed wind/string chamber ensemble in-residence on the West Coast.
Professor Sundberg has served as faculty at several international music festivals, and has presented masterclasses and performed solo and chamber recitals across the United States and abroad, including concerts in China, Korea, South Africa, Mexico, Austria, Ireland, England, France, Kosovo, and the Philippines. She has been a guest artist at flute festivals across the United States, including St. Louis, New Mexico, Illinois, Iowa, California, Oklahoma and Texas, and has been a featured artist, teacher, and adjudicator at numerous National Flute Association conventions. She has played principal flute with the Orchestra Sinfonica de Mineria in Mexico City, Eisenstadter Sommerakademie in Austria, New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, and also has played with the Fort Worth Symphony, Dallas Opera, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and Metropolitan Ballet Orchestra.
Professor Sundberg’s students have won numerous professional orchestra and premier military band positions, tenure track and lecturer university positions, summer festival positions, fellowships, and prizes in competitions. Prizes include 1st prizes in the N.F.A. (National Flute Association) Orchestral Excerpt Competition, N.F.A. Piccolo Artist Competition, Myrna W. Brown Artist Flute Competition, Mid-South Flute Competition, Upper Midwest Flute Competition, Kentucky Young Artist Competition, Central Ohio Young Artist, Florida Collegiate Young Artist, Kentucky Flute Society Young Artist, Atlanta Flute Club Young Artist, San Diego Flute Guild Artist Gold Competition, Music Teacher’s National Association Young Artist Competition, Texas Music Teachers Instrumental Concerto Competition, Texas Music Teachers Solo Repertoire Competition, Entergy Music Competition, UNT Concerto Competition, Chautauqua Sigma Alpha Iota Concerto Competition, Irvin Monroe Flute Competition, Alexander & Buono International Flute Competition, and the Rotary Fellowship Competition.
Terri Sundberg attended the Yale University School of Music, Royal Conservatory of Music Orchestral Training Program, and Lawrence Conservatory. Her principal teachers have included Jeanne Baxtresser, Thomas Nyfenger, Ernestine Whitman, James Walker, and Timothy Day. She is a co-author of “Children After War: A Novel Approach to Promoting Resilience Through Music” recently highlighted in the Traumatology journal, and has great passion for her work on the board of the Shropshire Music Foundation, whose mission is to foster ethnic tolerance, promote peace, and improve the quality of life for children and adolescents of wartorn countries through the establishment of ongoing music education and performance programs: www.TeachingChildrenPeace.org. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the National Flute Association.
Jill Bartine
2nd flute at Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Biography
Jill Bartine has been a teacher for more than half her life. As a classically-trained flutist who performs with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, her first outlet for her teaching passion was music, and she was thrilled to add yoga to her teaching repertoire after completing her 200-hour RYT certification in August 2011. She also holds a Bachelor of Music in flute performance from Northwestern University and a Master of Music from the University of Tennessee.
Professional musical performance employs controlled breath, body awareness, energy, creativity, rhythmic flow, and harmony — all qualities of a successful yoga practice. Jill draws upon these elements in her classes, helping her students to feel in tune with their bodies and spirit, and those around them.
Devan Jaquez
Principal flute at Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Biography
Devan Jaquez is a graduate of the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles where he received a Master of Music Degree in 2019 studying with Jim Walker. He received his Bachelor’s Degree of Art in Music Performance in the spring of 2017 from UCLA where he also received the Presser Scholar Award and studied with Sheridon Stokes.
While in Los Angeles, Devan worked as a freelance musician and premiered works by Esa-Pekka Salonen and William Kraft, among others. He appeared in recital with revered oboe soloist and orchestral musician Ramón Ortega Quero while he was principal oboist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the Colburn Chamber Music Society 2018-2019 season. Devan Jaquez was a finalist in the 2020 Young Concert Artists International Competition. He was a 2020 instrumental fellow of the Music Academy of the West (MAW) and was a winner of the Keston MAX Competition. Devan was also selected to play in the 2020 Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra. He was part of the inaugural fellowship program at the Classical Tahoe Academy in the summer of 2021. He has played in the American Institute of Music, Graz Orchestra in Graz, Austria in 2019; the 2018 National Repertory Orchestra (NRO) in Breckenridge, Colorado; and was the 3rd Prize winner of the 2018 San Diego Flute Guild Young Artist Competition. He won the UCLA All-Star Concerto competition and appeared as a soloist with the UCLA Philharmonia Orchestra in their 2015-2016 season.
Devan has a passion for new music and amplifying underrepresented voices in the classical field. One of his favorite projects was working on the Queer Covid Quarantine Commission Project, his flagship album, sponsored by the Music Academy of the West. He commissioned and recorded three new works for solo flute which debuted in March of 2021.
In addition to being an avid performer, Devan also enjoys teaching music and has served on faculty for the Jumpstart Young Musicians’ Program at the Colburn School and Soriel Music Academy in Los Angeles, CA. He keeps an active private studio and offers lessons both online and in person.
