Location: Marquis Hall, Coe College

Join us for classes for all ages and skill levels on Performance Anxiety, How to Practice Scales, Improvisation, All-State & Honor Band Auditions, Flute Choir, a chance to try new flutes/piccolos, and so much more!

$10 to cover lunch

For any questions, email Coe College Flute Instructor Rose Bishop at flute.rosebishop@gmail.com

This workshop is intended for junior high, high school, college students who plan to audition for Honor Band/All-State/College/etc, or for flutists of any age who just want to improve their overall playing, learn more about how to manage performance anxiety, and play in a community flute choir. We take special care to focus on all levels of playing, with a class specifically dedicated to junior high school students. The technical difference in audition requirements from junior high to high school is quite large, so I strive to help bridge that gap by building on their fundamentals and their confidence. 

International prize-winning flutist Rose Bishop serves as Instructor of Flute at St. Ambrose University, Coe College, Cornell College, and Kirkwood Community College. An active orchestral musician, she serves as Principal Flute of the Southeast Iowa Symphony Quincy Symphony Orchestras and Acting Principal Flute with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the York Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, the Quad City Symphony, the Salina Symphony, the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, among others.

A highly sought-after guest artist, Bishop has appeared as a guest soloist with ensembles including the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra and numerous university and municipal bands, in addition to enjoying various guest artist residencies at universities throughout the nation. An active clinician, Bishop has performed, lectured, and presented at events including the National Flute Association Convention, the Kansas Wesleyan International Music Festival, Upper Midwest Flute Association Festival, Iowa Flute Festival, Wisconsin Flute Festival, Portland Flute Society, the St. Louis Flute Fair, to name a few.

Rose Bishop recently released her solo debut album, Diversions, of solo flute repertoire that she either commissioned during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, or performed as part of her residency with the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra in October, 2021. This album features compositions by all living female composers, and includes works by Amber Beams, Nicole Chamberlain, Linda Robbins Coleman, and Lisa Neher.

Dedicated to community outreach, Bishop is the Flute Faculty, Founder and Artistic Director of the Eastern Iowa Flute Workshop and the Cornell College Summer Flute Camp, and is a frequent contributor to Flute Talk, the Flute View, the Flutist Quarterly and the Flute Examiner Magazines. Bishop serves as a member of the National Flute Association’s Career and Artistic Development Committee and is a Trevor James Alto Flute Artist. Rose and Lizzy Darling are co-authors of A Flutist’s Guide to the Voxman Etudes, a pedagogical text and supplementary recordings of Voxman’s Selected Studies for Flute. www.rosebishopflute.com

Hailed by the New York Times as possessing “rich tone and deft technique,” Hannah Porter Occeña is a versatile flutist and pedagogue equally comfortable performing music written 400 years or 40 minutes ago. The 2021 Mu Phi Epsilon International Competition Winner and 2012 Irene Burchard Prizewinner, her performance work ranges from intimate solo performances in the recording studio to sold-out orchestra festival concerts. She holds principal flute positions in the Topeka Symphony Orchestra (Topeka, KS) and Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra (Boulder, CO) and teaches a vibrant studio of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls, IA). 

As an orchestral player, chamber musician, and soloist, Dr. Occeña has worked to bring to life hundreds of new works. She gave the world premiere performances of flute concertos by Arturo Rodríguez and Joseph Kern, and the European premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s “The Light That We Can Hear.” She has privately commissioned several works, including the prizewinning work the whirring dusk by Lisa Bost-Sandberg (2018), and was a co-commissioner for Confluence by Zhou Long (2015), Giantess by Carter Pann (2018), Amazonia by Valerie Coleman (2020), Intuition by Samuel Zyman (2022), and Pathways of Desire by Reena Esmail (2024). 

Committed to reaching audiences around the world, Dr. Occeña is an active recording artist whose performances can be heard on major music streaming services. She specializes in recording recently published works as well as student-accessible works outside the standard canon, often in collaboration with her duo partner, pianist Emely Phelps. In addition to traditional venues and recorded performances, Dr. Occeña performs outreach concerts in schools, non-traditional venues such as nature preserves and state parks, and at events specifically designed for neurodiverse audience members. Some of her favorite concert experiences have been performances in association with Autism Speaks and at special education schools. 

Dr. Occeña is a 2018 DMA graduate of Stony Brook University, where she studied with Carol Wincenc. She holds a Master of Music Dip.RAM from the Royal Academy of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. When not performing, Dr. Occeña enjoys distance running and spending time outdoors with her family. Dr. Occeña is a Miyazawa Artist and plays on a Miyazawa Elite.

Heather Neuenschwander is an active flutist and piccolist in Iowa City and the surrounding area. Heather is the piccolo player with the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra, a position she won by audition in Fall 2021. She has also performed on flute and piccolo with several orchestras, bands and ensembles throughout Iowa and Michigan, including the Ottumwa Symphony, Muscatine Symphony, Metropolitan Festival, American Gothic Festival, Grinnell College Symphonic Band, Michigan Philharmonic Orchestra, Dearborn Symphony and the Oakland Symphony Orchestra. Heather has performed at the National Flute Association Convention on multiple occasions and presented in person and virtually for the Exhibitor Showcase “The Highs and Lows of Harmony Flutes” including performing three world premiere compositions which she helped commission.

Heather maintains a vibrant flute studio at her home and online where she enjoys working with students of all ages. Her previous teaching credentials include providing flute and piccolo instruction at West Music (Iowa City), Flute Specialists, Inc. (MI) and the Oakland University Preparatory Division (MI). Heather is also a former middle and high school band director, holding previous certifications (K-12 music) in both Michigan and Illinois. Heather is the head of Online Sales and Promotions for Flute Specialists, Inc., a flute sales and repair store based in Clawson, MI. She has been at this position for ten years and loves helping flutists find their perfect instrument. Heather has also previously worked at Flute Authority (IA) play testing flutes.

Heather Neuenschwander has a Master of Music in Flute Performance from Oakland University (Rochester Hills, MI) and a Bachelor of Music Education from Wayne State University (Detroit, MI). Heather’s influential teachers include Sharon Sparrow (Associate Principal Flute with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra), Jeffery Zook (Piccolo with the DSO), Amanda Blaikie (Second Flute with the DSO) and Ervin Monroe (former Principal Flute with the DSO). She has also studied with Marina Piccinini, Laurie Sokoloff, Nicola Mazzanti and Jennifer Clippert. Heather is a previous winner of the David Daniels Young Artist Concerto Competition earning the privilege to play the 3rd movement of the Ibert Concerto with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra. While at Oakland University, she received the Matilda Award for Outstanding Graduate Student in Instrumental Performance.

Heather currently lives in Coralville with her two sons, her husband Josh, and their two cats Pumpkin and Gordie.