Catching Up with Emma

Yesterday, we had the chance to catch up with young Powell flute artist, Emma Resmini.  She had a very full summer, which included much flute playing and a bit of rest and relaxation as well.  One of the major events of her summer was the James Galway Festival in Switzerland.  This year marked her second year in attendance at the festival. 

Sir James Galway and Emma

With a name like James Galway, even we were a bit nervous, but his celebrity status did not instill fear in Emma.  She thoroughly enjoyed working with him, and her mother noted his jovial rapport with Emma.  We asked Emma to tell us a bit more about her experience.  She told us, “It was fun – you got to perform twice, and it is really a great experience.  It is also in a really beautiful place.  I played alto flute in flute choir, too.  I like playing alto flute.  I don’t play it much, but when I do, it’s a lot of fun.” 

Sounded like a terrific time for a young flutist, but we were still curious about what it was like working with Sir James.  Emma said, “He always has good advice.  Last year, we worked on concertos, and he helped me with what to expect when playing the concertos with an orchestra.  He has very helpful tips, and I don’t have to change anything about the way I want to play a piece – he lets me play it the way I want.”  This last statement truly made us smile. 

Emma and Lorna McGhee,
Principal Flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony

Now that Emma is back in the U.S., she is fully into the swing of the school year.  Emma is now 13 and in the 8^th grade.  She is home schooled but also participates in the National Symphony Orchestra Fellowship Program, where she is working on chamber music – a flute quartet, specifically.  For private lessons, Emma is studying with Alice Weinreb and working on the Reinecke Flute Concerto, Op. 283 and the Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op.28 (for violin and orchestra).  Since the Saint-Saëns is originally for violin, we asked Emma if it was particularly challenging.  After all, string players do not have to worry about taking a breath!  Emma assured us that it is not too different.  She said, “There are only a few notes that are out of the flute’s range, so just a few octave changes.  I try to keep it close to how the violinists play it.”  Next on the performance circuit for Emma are solo performances in January with the Laredo Philharmonic and in June with the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Orchestra.

Emma with friends from the Galway Festival
(Elayna Sabelhaus and Chloe Ellen Jones)
and Lady Jeanne Galway.

Of course, we know that Emma is a wonderful young flutist, but what about her current hobbies and interests?  Well, she told us that this year she started taking a Spanish class.  She enjoys it and says that it’s “going well so far – we’re learning greetings.”  Sounds perfect to us!  Like many others, she is also a fan of the computer.  We noticed that she responds personally to questions on her YouTube channel (her channel is located at http://www.youtube.com/georockmin).  She said, “Yes -- I think it’s nice that people ask questions.”   She now has her own Facebook page, too, so we wanted to take a look.  She explained that her profile picture was taken with a friend at a Renaissance festival.  Emma told us that she really enjoys Renaissance festivals and that the food is “really, really good – everything is on a stick.”  Well, that certainly made us hungry!  We asked if there was something about that particular time in history that she liked, but she says these events are “just fun festivals.  They have lots of shops and games, and most shops have corsets and dresses.”  Definitely sounds like fun to us!  Her mother shared that the past summer was also, “the summer of rollercoasters,” during which the family visited four different amusement parks with a total of about 30 rollercoasters.   Emma is a dedicated fan of these rides, and her mother tells us, “the bigger the better!”

We enjoyed our conversation with Emma, and as always, we were curious to see if she had any more advice for younger players.  She says, “Just play the best you can and try to have fun – that helps!”  We couldn’t agree more.  If you are attending the 2013 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Emma will be a featured guest at the Powell Flutes booth on Thursday, December 19^th.  We hope you’ll stop by to meet her!

Conversation with Emma Resmini

Our youngest Powell Sonaré artist, Emma Resmini, has graced stages as a soloist with the Dallas Symphony, National Symphony, and Pittsburgh Symphony – all before age 11.  She is a remarkable musician who shares the interests of her peers in many respects.  Having accomplished such notoriety at such a young age, we were anxious to chat with her about her experiences, favorite past-times, and advice for fellow flute students.

Emma attended a Kindermusic class when she was three years old.  She recollected that “at the end of class, the teacher would turn off all the lights and play the flute,” which is something Emma really enjoyed.  She said that at that age, she really “didn’t talk much but began going around the house pretending everything was a flute.”  Her parents purchased a flute for her, and she began taking Suzuki flute lessons with her mother.  She progressed through the Suzuki books rapidly and went on to other repertoire.  Emma then began studying with Judy Lapple, who was Professor of Flute at George Mason University.  According to Emma, Judy was a terrific teacher who helped her tremendously with tone and repertoire.  Emma then began studying with National Symphony Orchestra flautist Alice Weinreb.  Like many flautists several years her senior, Emma takes weekly lessons from Ms. Weinreb that are about two hours long.  Each lesson ends with a duet, which is one of Emma’s favorite parts of the lesson.

Emma is now in her second year of the National Symphony Orchestra Fellowship program.  The program is open to students in grades 9-12, yet special consideration may be made for those younger students such as Emma.  She especially enjoys the chamber music component, which was something new for Emma when she began the program.  In her first year, she was in a woodwind quintet and a harp and flute duo.  This year, she is in a woodwind quintet and a flute and percussion duo.  She enjoys performing on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage and collaborating with members of her chamber music ensembles.  Having performed as a soloist with several symphony orchestras, Emma is extremely comfortable on stage.  As part of the fellowship program, she also has the chance to sit in with the National Symphony Orchestra in regularly-scheduled rehearsals conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.  When we asked her what she likes most about the flute, she said that she really enjoys performing.  Curious as to whether she gets stage fright, she said it “was a bit scary at first,” but she has certainly overcome the challenge. 

When Emma is not playing the flute, she said she enjoys taking care of her dog, Maxi, who is a Maltese and poodle mix.  One of Emma’s other favorite activities is building model rockets with her father.  At the end of our chat, we asked Emma what she would say to a student younger than herself who is just starting the flute.  Emma said, “I would say, if you’re trying really hard, and you don’t think you’re getting anywhere, don’t give up – it takes time.”  We certainly agree and thank Emma for the time she spent speaking with us!

Emma had the chance to perform in the 2012 James Galway masterclass.

Close-up on Emma at the Galway masterclass.