Cate Hummel

Description

Cate Hummel, or Dr. Cate, as she is frequently called, wants to share her love of music and the flute (including piccolo and alto flute) with your audience. Offering performances from one piece to an entire recital of music from the 20th and 21st centuries to standards of the flute repertoire, Dr. Cate has something to please any classical, academic or school audience. Be sure to see her YouTube channel: @CateHummel for samples. She also offers a wide variety of clinics, workshops and seminars on teaching flute, flute fundamentals, musicianship and the teaching materials of Marcel Moyse. See https://drcatesflutetips.wordpress.com/ for more.

Work Sample

La Región Más Transparente - Leo Brouwer, Cate Hummel - flute and Cynthia Trowbridge - piano. This performance, created in June 2021 on the stage at the University of St. Francis Moser Performing Arts Center, was produced for performance at the online National Flute Association Convention presented in August of 2021 on a program entitled Fiesta Latina. Several months ago, I received official authorization directly from Leo Brouwer for this performance. Run time: 12:19

Music for Self-Isolation by Frank Horvat. This performance is from October 2020, recorded in my home studio. Frank Horvat, a Canadian composer based in Toronto, created this project, writing short pieces for virtually all instruments and voice types. He invited anyone who wanted to contribute performances to put up on his website. All the pieces were subsequently recorded in a concert hall in Toronto and made into an album. It was a thrill to be involved in the initial submissions for this project. Run time 2:51

Die Taubenpost - Franz Schubert arr. Theobald Böhm with Michael Giuliani, piano. This performance was from a Schubertiad held at Bethany Lutheran Church in Naperville in February 2017. For several years, Michael Giuliani was the cantor at Bethany and had the vision to start a music school (and helped in founding the Naperville Youth Symphony Orchestra). This Schubertiad was one of a number of public performances by teachers and students associated with this musical endeavor. Run time 3:49.

The samples provided demonstrate some of the breadth of my interest in performing new(er) music, as well as a solid grounding in the standard recital repertoire for flute. More of my performances are available on my YouTube channel @CateHummel

History

I came to Illinois around the time I was finishing my DMA from Manhattan School of Music in the early 1990s. In the course of finishing my studies, I largely focused on teaching the flute to support myself. In the last 20 years, I've focused on learning more about repertoire for flute from the USA in the 20th and 21st centuries. And most recently, I've broaden my reach by looking for new music for solo flute, flute and piano, flute chamber music and flute with electronic media from all over the world, but especially the Americas. I've performed in the traditional venus around Chicago such as the Cultural Center, Harold Washington Library, for the Musicians Club of Women and the Chicago Flute Club. Over the last 25 years or so, I've extended the scope of my activities to flute events in the USA and abroad, performing, lecturing and giving school and music dealer clinics. I am an artist representative for Altus and Azumi flutes.

Artistic Vision

I'm passionate communicating about the language of music because of my long time interest in the teaching of the great flute pedagogue, Marcel Moyse, about whose teaching I did my doctoral dissertation. Whether through performing or teaching, I love showing the power of our musical language through nuance, color and inflection. The repertoire I choose to learn and perform reflects the skill of the composers and their understanding of how musical language works. It brings me a lot of satisfaction to accurately communicate the composer's intention. I love showing students how to communicate effectively in their performance. I am also strongly motivated to help young flute players get set up with a solid playing foundation with tone, technique and musical understanding. Over the last 10 years, I have also been cultivating a growing interest in flute repertoire with fixed media (pre-recorded tracks). The music I choose to perform is music that speaks to me, that I would want to hear on a concert. It is music that inspires and excites me to continue growing in my skill and artistry.

Programs for Specific Audience(s) Expertise

*For colleges, universities and music festivals, I have several presentations ready on different aspects of the teaching of Marcel Moyse. Though he was a flutist, his teaching encompassed broad musical concepts that apply to any musician Here's a playlist of one such presentation: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzV-qjgjskMobmtw0R01jwem2avZVkp2K *For middle school and high school students, there are any number of presentations/demonstrations on good practice habits (for any school musician), flute fundamentals, specifics on how to study individual parts from ensemble music, etc. *For band directors, music education students, in-service events and music education conferences, I have several presentations on the fundamentals of teaching flute tone, embouchure, developing an ergonomic playing position and avoiding injury. See my blog https://drcatesflutetips.wordpress.com/