PATRICIA SPENCER is flutist with the Da Capo Chamber Players, and has performed recitals throughout the US and abroad. Performances at the 2009 National Flute Association included a Telemann duo with flutist Carol Wincenc; the Boulez Sonatine with pianist Linda Hall; the world premiere of Shirish Korde’s Lalit, for flute and tabla, with Samir Chatterjee; Sebastian Currier’s Static with the Da Capo Chamber Players; and Arthur Kreiger’s Close Encounters for flute and electronic sounds.
Warm critical responses have appeared in The New York Times most recently for her performances of the Berio Sequenza and to Tania León’s Alma. Her performance for the Look & Listen Festival of the Boulez Sonatine, again with Linda Hall, was called "sensational" in Musicweb's "Seen and Heard". Prior highlights have included a performance of the same work for the Bard Music Festival, in August 2005; a performance of Joan Tower's Flute Concerto, in August 2004, for the National Flute Association Convention in Nashville (which drew a standing ovation); a recital in Moscow for the Alternativa Festival, a highly acclaimed premiere of Shulamit Ran's flute concerto, Voices. As a soloist she has toured both in the US and abroad, including solo performances at the International Computer Music Conference in Beijing, China. An exciting repertoire of pieces has been written for her, including title works of her solo CD, Thea Musgrave's Narcissus and Judith Shatin's Kairos (Neuma Records). An earlier CD with pianist Linda Hall, features Boulez's Sonatine, along with works by Carter, Perle, Korde, Talma, Martirano, Kreiger, and Jaffe. Both CDs have been greeted with rave reviews from Fanfare and The American Record Guide. Ms. Spencer has received awards from The National Endowment for the Arts, the Mary Flagler Cary Trust, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, for her solo recordings and commissioning projects.
A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, where she was a student of Robert Willoughby, Ms. Spencer continued her studies with Marcel Moyse, John Wummer, and Josef Marx. She teaches flute and chamber music at Bard College and Hofstra University. The Da Capo Chamber Players is resident ensemble with the Composition Program of the new Bard College Conservatory of Music.