Spotlight on... Ellen Flanagan '09

Author: Andrew Throdahl

Ellen Flanagan '09 was honored this year as the recipient of the Joyce and Alan Beucher 2009 Concerto Competition, and she performed the first movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the College Orchestra last Friday, April 24. Andrew Throdahl sat down with Flanagan to discuss her playing.

The Campus: How did you start playing the violin and who all have you studied with?
Ellen Flanagan: I think the main reason I started studying music was because I was jealous of my older brother. I watched him take lessons for three or four years before my mother allowed me to hold the instrument. She told me she would fund my violin lessons once I learned how to read, so I began playing when I was 6. Fourteen years later, I have studied with many different teachers. At Middlebury, all of us violin students are lucky enough to study with Katherine Winterstein, one of the most bizarre but wonderfully encouraging teachers I have had.

TC: What's your favorite type of music to play?
EF: String quartets.

TC: Is classical music the only music you've played on the violin?
EF: I've tried a few times to learn some fiddle/bluegrass music but wasn't the best at it. I always tell people I can play that one song "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show. When I studied abroad last year in Argentina, I met a tango band who let me perform with them a few times. Tango music is really beautiful and more similar to classical playing, so it was easier for me to pick up. I also really love gypsy swing, with guitar, upright bass and violin, but I'm afraid to improvise so I haven't been able to get after it.

TC: Did going abroad to Argentina and playing tango there inspire your classical playing?
EF: I think maybe it did. Tango music, in order to be convincing, requires a lot of passion and expressive timing, which is definitely applicable in classical pieces.

TC: Do you have any worst/favorite concert memories at Middlebury?
EF: I have loved performing chamber music over the past few years with you, Shelsey Weinstein, and Sonia Hsieh. Soloing with the orchestra this past weekend, however, was a rare opportunity and definitely one of the most exciting performing experiences I have ever had.

TC: How did you decide to play the Sibelius concerto for the concerto competition?
EF: You suggested I play it and I have to do everything you say, including do this interview.

TC: Were you nervous for the competition? And if so, how do you deal with anxiety?
EF: I was pretty nervous but I made sure to stay warmed up, playing through the difficult passages until it was my turn.

TC: How is playing in the orchestra different from playing with the orchestra? Did it change the way you performed the Sibelius?
EF: I sit down while playing in the orchestra and stand up while playing with the orchestra. I probably should have thought about wearing more comfortable shoes.

TC: What are your musical plans for the future? Will you keep playing the Sibelius?
EF: I hope to keep studying the violin and maybe go to grad school for music performance. I'll definitely keep playing the Sibelius - it's one of the best violin concertos and I have only learned the first movement so far.