Music, Theatre, Dance Faculty & Staff
Last Name
Walsh
First Name
Abigail
Email
walshabi@gvsu.edu
Title
Flute, Visiting Professor
Website
https://abigailwalsh.com/
Office Address
1204 Haas Center for Performing Arts
Office Phone
616-331-8193
About
A versatile and passionate performer and educator, Dr. Abigail Walsh is the Visiting Professor of Flute at Grand Valley State University. She has performed with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra since 2018 and has most recently performed with the West Michigan Symphony, Holland Symphony and the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra. She serves as the Vice President of the West Michigan Flute Association and is the program chair for the Great Lakes Flute Festival. She is the author of “Plugged In : Practice and Performance Method for Flutists” which will be available in January 2024 from Conway Publications.
A dedicated teacher and performer, Abigail teaches the flute studio at Grand Valley State University and gives master classes, performances, and presentations regularly. Highlights include National Flute Association conventions, the Florida, Wisconsin, Mid-Atlantic, Chicago, Iowa, Great Lakes and FNMC Flute Festivals as well as at the Engelbach-Hart Music Festival, and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s “Around the Town” Chamber Music Festival. As an ambassador of new music, Abigail has premiered over 50 new works for flute. She is a member and performer in the Flute New Music Consortium, an organization dedicated to commissioning and premiering new works for flute. With pianist Pei-I Wang, Abigail performed 10 new works for flute and piano virtually and on tour with the Composers Alliance of San Antonio during 2021 and 2022.
First prize winner of the CanAmerican Flute Symposium Solo Artist Competition in 2021, Abigail has been a prizewinner or finalist in the NFA Piccolo Artist Competition, the Washington Society Young Artist Competition, the University of Iowa’s Concerto Competition, and the Emeritus Recording Competition. She was a 2023 finalist of the American Prize in the professional instrumental soloist division, and the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the performance of American music.
Abigail has served on the faculties of the University of Illinois Springfield, Illinois College, and the Hartt School. She is the former Principal Flutist of Hartford Opera Theater, the Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra and the Oskaloosa Symphony and has performed with the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, the Whiting Park Festival Orchestra as well as the Peoria, Millikin-Decatur, and Dubuque Symphony Orchestras. She has been a flute faculty artist at the Flute by the Sea Masterclass (RI), Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival (IA), Hartt High School Intensive Instrumental Workshop (CT), the UIS Flute Festival (IL) and the Western Illinois University’s Summer Music Institute (IL). Abigail holds DMA and MM degrees from the Hartt School, where she studied with Janet Arms and John Wion. She received her BM degree from the University of Iowa while studying with Tamara Thweatt, Robert Dick, and Tadeu Coelho. Other primary teachers include Betty Bang Mather, Trevor Wye, and Margaret Linnan Kegel.