The Flute Choir started its life more than 20 yrs ago as the Harborne Flute Choir, meeting at the Martineau Adult Education Centre in Harborne. Our founder conductor was Penny Collier. Then Sandy Hay took over as Musical  Director in 2002. Since September 2006 we have been independent and changed our name to the Birmingham Flute Choir.

After 6 years of being an inspiring leader and greatly improving the standard of the Flute Choir, Sandy is left us in July 2009 as his new job as Head of the Music Service in Leicester has taken him away from Birmingham. 

From September 2009 Stephen Clark has been our new Music Director, sharing rehearsals with Sara Wilson. See their biographies below.

We play at the Friends Meeting House, Corner of St James Road and George Road, Edgbaston. See here for map. We meet together to play and rehearse a wide variety of music arranged for flutes (including piccolo, standard C flute, alto and bass) and from time to time we perform at concerts and other gigs.

We number 20 members at the moment and would like to build the choir up to about 25. So we welcome adult flute players of various abilities, though a minimum standard of Grade 5 is recommended. No audition is required but Stephen Clark will reserve the right to refuse membership. So, come along for a Taster session to see if you would like to join us. 

The fees for each term are currently £30 (for 5 sessions). New members joining during the term are asked to pay a reduced subscription calculated at £6 for each remaining session. 

If you would like to join us contact Merryn Lloyd: info(at)birminghamflutechoir(dot)com.
We meet five Mondays a term 7.30 - 9.15pm. See Events Page for calendar of meetings/events.

Conductors: Stephen Clark and Sara Wilson

Committee:
Chairman: John Smith

Secretary: Fran Munby

Treasurer: Sarah Jones

Publicity Officer: Merryn Lloyd

Stephen Clark was born in Glasgow in 1983 and began playing the flute when he was 14 years old. Having initially studied with Sheena Gordon, he continued his studies with David Nicholson, Helen Brew and Janet Richardson at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from where he graduated with Honours. Whilst still a student, Stephen was a major prize winner and in the same year won both 2nd prize in the Mozart Concerto Competition and first prize in the prestigious RSAMD Concerto Competition. Stephen completed his studies with Richard Davies and Michael Cox at the Royal Northern College of Music where he received a Scholarship. He has also been fortunate to receive tuition and guidance from many other distinguished musicians. These include Jacques Zoon, Peter Lloyd, Phillipa Davies, Lorna Mcghee, Emily Beynon, Paul Edmund-Davies, Matej Zupan, Richard Blake, Sebastian Bell, Moshe Epstein, Wissam Boustany and many others.
Having spent some time as an orchestral player, Stephen now concentrates on his work as a soloist. He has performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Croatia, Mexico, Chile, Egypt, Libya, Malta, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, Brazil, Slovenia and the U.S.A. In August 2005, Stephen was also awarded the Musicians Benevolent Fund/Oxford Flute Bursary Award and from 2005 - 2006, he was a performing artist on Lord Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now Scheme!
Stephen is also in great demand as a teacher, workshop and masterclass leader. Stephen has given regular classes both in the UK and abroad and often gives classes for the international organisation Flutewise. Recently, he has performed as solo flautist and led workshops for Glyndebourne Opera in their UK tour of Mozart's The Magic Flute. In 2005, Stephen was invited as Visiting Professor of flute at the International Summer Flute Academy of Kastella. His residency and performances there where documented by Croatian television. Stephen is greatly dedicated to the promotion of music to children and young people. This has led him to perform concerts and teach extensively for the Music For Youth Initiative of Scotland.

Stephen has recorded for Classic FM, Amadeus, Linn Records and for the Naxos label and broadcast live on Northern Ireland’s 7FM and BBC Radio 3. He is also the solo flautist featured in the Children’s Classic Concerts CD which was released in the UK in 2006. In 2009, Stephen also appeared on screen as the flute player in the BBC's period drama series "Desperate Romantics". (www.stephenclarkflute.com)

Sara Wilson moved to the Midlands in 1991 to study flute at Birmingham Conservatoire. Since graduating she has taught in a variety of schools, including Edgbaston High School where she is director of both the junior and senior school flute ensembles. At Stratford Music Centre she was the founder of the flute ensemble and junior wind band and was part of the team running the Magic Flutes workshops at Stratford International Flute Festival. Sara has worked extensively with blind and partially sighted musicians, teaching for the RNIB in Worcester for 10 years. During this time she spoke at national conferences on the teaching of music to blind children, and ran composition workshops at some of the RNIB’s national music days. She has also adjudicated at the Alcester Music Festival and the King Edward VI Aston Boys Music Festival.
Currently, as well as her work at Edgbaston High School, Sara teaches at King Edward VI Aston School for Boys, where she runs the school flute choir and tutors the Birmingham Schools Flute Choir.

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Sandy Hay was born in Scotland and studied Community Music as an undergraduate in Glasgow, then moved to Birmingham to study flute with Kevin Gowland and Kate Lukas at the Birmingham Conservatoire.  During his early years in Birmingham, Sandy undertook a number of roles including working in both state and independent sectors as flute teacher and conductor.  He has also held the positions Education Manager of the Birmingham Early Music Festival, director of the Birmingham Festival of Flutes and co-founder and director of the Queen's Park Sinfonia, a chamber orchestra for Young Professional Musicians.  Sandy has sat on the panel as an adjudicator for the Lions International Music Competition and on numerous occasions for the Albert Cooper Flute Competition as part of the Stratford International Flute Festival.  Sandy currently holds the position of Head of Woodwind within Birmingham Music Service leading a team of 56 Woodwind teachers within the 400 schools within the City.  From September 2009 he has been Head of Music Services in Leicester. Sandy has recently helped establish the Flutewise National Youth Flute Choir of which he is the conductor. 

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