Bio

“…confident, winning performances….”
The Flutist Quarterly

Flutist Leslie Stroud, active as both an orchestral and chamber musician throughout the United States, is dedicated to bringing audiences music ranging from that of the 18th and 19th centuries played on historic, period flutes to adventurous works by composers of our own time on modern day flutes.

Noted by American Record Guide for her “rich, velvety sound” and “command of all the difficulties,” and the New Bedford Standard Times for her “virtuosity” and “excellent solo flute work,” Ms. Stroud has appeared with the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Opera North, the Southern Vermont Lyric Theatre, the Plymouth Philharmonic, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, New Bedford Festival Theater Orchestra, the Buzzards Bay Musicfest, the Peabody Wind Quintet, and the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra.  As a member of the Peabody Contemporary Music Ensemble, her performance of Paul Hindemith’s Hérodiade is housed in the United States  Library of Congress. 

Ms. Stroud performs regularly with New York City based pianist Matthew Odell (www.matthewodell.com), presenting the richly varied and often provocative chamber music written for flute and piano. They have performed the complete chamber works for flute and piano written by award winning French composer Michel Merlet, as well as performing the works of other living composers including Gary Schocker, Martin Amlin, Philip Lasser, Ned Rorem and Pierre Boulez. Offering inventive and imaginative programming, they enjoy bringin the voice of contemporary classical music, alongside favorite works of the established repertory, to a wide array of audiences.

Ms. Stroud and Mr. Odell recently released to critical acclaim, on Centaur Records (November 2019), ‘Sonatas for Flute and Piano by Gary Schocker.’  Ms. Stroud and Mr. Odell’s performances together include at Dartmouth College, Accueil Musicale (Paris), the Opera House at Booth Bay Harbor, Pentangle Arts Classical Series, The Frederick Historic Piano Collection, ArtisTreeCommunity Arts Center and Gallery, the Eliot Church of South Natick (Boston) and as Tomlinson Fellows at Tabor Academy. As members of the chamber music ensemble Acacia Music with clarinetist with Meghan Davis, performances include at Plymouth State University, Music at the Meeting House and the St. Gaudens National Historic Site Summer Concert Series. 

An  original member/performer of the innovative New Bedford Symphony Orchestra program “SchoolsMusic!,” Ms. Stroud has taught at Tabor Academy, the St. Paul’s School for Girls and the Center for Talented Youth, Johns Hopkins University and maintains a private studio in the Upper Valley of Vermont/New Hampshire.

A founding member of Cameo Baroque, the Connecticut River Valley’s only actively performing “period band,” and in-house ensemble of Cameo Arts Foundation (www.cameoarts.org), Ms. Stroud and her colleagues are dedicated to bringing music and people together as a means of fostering all connections between us as a society, providing support to nonprofit service organizations in northern New England.

Ms. Stroud began her flute studies at the age of eight at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, going on to obtain her performance degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Her teachers include Yaada Weber, Timothy Day, Britton Johnson, Walfrid Kujala, Lois Schaefer, Gary Schocker, and Suzanne Stumpf (historic flutes & performance practice).

Chamber music coachings include with Leon Fleisher, Richard Stolzman, Frederik Prauznitz, Sir Berl Senofsky, harpsichordist Laurette Goldberg, and composers Gary Schocker and Michel Merlet.

Ms. Stroud enjoys performing on a variety of flutes, including Powell, Haynes, Lunn, and Emanuel; as well as historic Louis Lot, Rudall Carte, and Wenner instruments.