Mozart, Tower, and Coleman

Demarre McGill has gained international recognition as one of today’s most compelling flutists, celebrated for his lyrical expressiveness and technical prowess. A recipient of both the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, McGill has appeared as a soloist with many of the nation’s leading orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the San Francisco, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Grant Park, San Diego, Chicago, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. His captivating performances have earned him critical acclaim and a distinguished place in the world of classical music.

Currently serving as the principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, McGill has previously held principal flute positions with the Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He has also served as acting principal flute with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

As an educator, Demarre McGill is committed to inspiring and nurturing the next generation of musicians. He has coached and presented master classes in South Africa, South Korea, Japan, Quebec, and throughout the United States. He has served on the faculties of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States, the National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland, the Orford Music Festival, Summerfest at the Curtis Institute of Music, Sarasota Music Festival, and the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa. Previously, McGill spent seven years as the Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and has been a longtime artist-faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2017.

Demarre McGill is also a founding member of the Myriad Trio and a former member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program. He is the co-founder of the Art of Élan and is a regular participant in prestigious chamber music festivals such as Santa Fe, Marlboro, Seattle, and Stellenbosch. In 2014, McGill co-founded the McGill/McHale Trio with his brother clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Michael McHale. Their debut CD, “Portraits,” released in August 2017, has received rave reviews, as has “Winged Creatures,” his recording with Anthony McGill and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.

As a champion of accessibility, inclusion, and artistic innovation in classical music, Demarre McGill actively promotes the works of underrepresented composers and engages in projects that highlight diverse cultural perspectives. His media credits include appearances on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center, A&E Network’s The Gifted Ones, NBC’s Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, along with his brother Anthony, on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Born in Chicago, Demarre McGill began playing the flute at age 7 and attended the Merit School of Music. In the years that followed, he studied with Susan Levitin. Demarre received his bachelor’s degree from The Curtis Institute of Music and a master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Demarre McGill is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

Composer Leigha Amick writes music to spark intellectual curiosity and express human experience. Her compositions have been performed by ensembles including the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the Boulder Philharmonic, the Denver Young Artists Orchestra, the Orlando Philharmonic, the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, the Playground Ensemble, Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, St. Martin’s Voices, St. Martin’s Chamber Choir, NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and Ars Nova Singers. Amick was selected as a 2025 fellow for both Copland House CULTIVATE and the Cabrillo Festival’s Conductors/Composers Workshop. In 2024 her piece Cascade was performed by the New Jersey Symphony as one of the scores selected for the Edward T. Cone Composition Institute. In 2023, she was a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival.

In 2022, New Voices Opera premiered Rhiannon’s Condemnation: a one-act chamber opera based on a medieval Welsh legend from The Mabinogion for which Leigha wrote both the libretto and the music. The revised version was premiered in 2024 on Leigha’s recital at the Curtis Institute of Music, conducted by Mariana Corichi Gómez.

Amick is a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at Juilliard in the studio of Nina C. Young. At the Curtis Institute of Music, she teaches counterpoint, keyboard harmony, and solfège for the Young Artists Initiative. She received her Master of Music degree in composition from Curtis, where she held the Jimmy Brent Fellowship and studied with Amy Beth Kirsten, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Nick DiBerardino, Richard Danielpour, and Steve Mackey. She received her Bachelor of Music in composition with highest distinction from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, completing minors in mathematics and electronic music. At IU, she studied composition with David Dzubay, Aaron Travers, Claude Baker, Sven-David Sandström, and Don Freund. Before college, she studied with Daniel Kellogg and John Drumheller of the University of Colorado Boulder.