Masterclass and recital

OGLESBY — Illinois Valley Community College and the Illinois Valley Flute Ensemble will present a masterclass and recital by Virginia Broffitt, assistant flute professor, and Jeffrey Brown, assistant piano professor from Western Illinois University, on Sunday.

Broffitt will present a masterclass at 2 p.m. featuring local flute students Jennifer Antkowiak of Peru, Bethany Papillon of Sheridan and Tiffany Morrison of Morris. A recital will immediately follow at 4 p.m. The event will take place in the cultural centre at IVCC and is free and open to the public.

Broffitt is the assistant professor of flute at Western Illinois University and flutist in the Camerata Woodwind Quintet. Previous to this appointment, she served as second flute in the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and was the piccoloist in the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently ABD at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, she received her Master of Music degree from the same institution studying with Dr. Bradley Garner, Randy Bowman and Jack Wellbaum. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from The North Carolina School of the Arts, where she studied with Dr. Tadeu Coelho. While in Cincinnati, she was a faculty member with the Conservatory Preparatory Department. She won the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition in 2004 and is a Miyazawa Performing Artist.

Brown is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he earned the Performer’s Certificate, the Master of Music and the Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. He studied with Natalya Antonova and served as her teaching assistant, and he pursued chamber music studies with Jean Barr. His early training was with Jane Allen at the University of Missouri, where he received the Bachelor of Music degree with honors. Recent performance highlights include the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Artist Presentation Society in St. Louis, the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, China, and summer festivals in France, Italy, Germany and Austria. His performances have been broadcast on WFMT and Cable 25 in Chicago, WXXI in Rochester, New York, and WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia, among others. As a winner of the Eastman Concerto Competition, he performed the Barber Piano Concerto with the Eastman Philharmonia. He has also been a prizewinner in the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition, the Corpus Christi International Young Artists’ Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Competition, and the Iowa International Piano Competition. He currently is Assistant Professor of Piano at Western Illinois University.