Laura Thompson is a freelance flutist on baroque and modern instruments, a recording artist, and an educator. She holds a Master of Music and a Bachelor of Music in flute performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, City University of New York. After graduating, Laura traveled to Holland to study the baroque flute with Jed Wentz. She also holds teaching certificates from the Suzuki Flute Association of the Americas.
As a former long-time student of Keith Underwood and Samuel Baron and member of Bacchanalia Baroque Ensemble, Laura was featured on WHRB radio in Cambridge, MA before her debut performance at the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe series in 2002. Since then she has appeared on several internationally released CDs; her most recent recording of trios by Joseph Gehot will be released on the Eroica record label in December 2010.
Laura has performed with Tafelmusik Festival Orchestra in Toronto, the Grand Tour Orchestra, Lyric Opera New York, Opera Ozarks, Di Capo Opera, the Greenwich Village Symphony Orchestra, and the South Shore Symphony. Laura has also performed with artists such as Sandra Miller, Louise Schulman, Myron Lutzke, Phoebe Carrai, Grant Herreid, and Christa Patton.
In 1998 Laura formed the Zephyr Trio which maintains a busy schedule playing private events and parties in and around New York. In addition to the classic repertoire, Zephyr specializes in arrangements of popular songs, classic rock, and jazz standards for flute and strings.
In 2001 Laura formed the group Bacchanalia Baroque Ensemble, which is dedicated to performing baroque and classical music on period instruments in the style and manner of the 18th century. Bacchanalia has performed all over New York and appears at the Boston Early Music Festival regularly. Bacchanalia has won grants from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Center and New York City of Department of Cultural Affairs in 2008 and 2010, and also from the Northern Manhattan Arts Association in 2010 for performances and recordings.
Laura teaches both modern and baroque flute and piccolo, and is also an accomplished performer on renaissance flutes. Her many teaching credits include flute faculty at the Rhoda Grundman Music School in Riverdale, the Amati Conservatory, the Thurnauer School of Music, the Manchester Music Festival Music, and chamber music coach at the Rockland Summer Institute.
For information about flute lessons please visit: http://nycfluteinstruction.com