University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
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University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
Bio

Professor of Flute Amy Porter has been praised by critics both for her exceptional musical talent and her passion for scholarship. Through a versatile and distinguished career as a concert performer, she has become one of the most skillful and creative muses for composers of our time.

From her prolific performances of Michael Daugherty’s Trail of Tears to her October 2022 performance at Carnegie Hall celebrating Lukas Foss’s centennial with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Porter’s accomplishments speak for themselves.

The multifaceted Porter is also an acclaimed professor of music. Recipient of the Henry Russel Award in 2006, Amy has served as a mentor to developing musicians at the University of Michigan for 25 years and leads an intensive residency at local colleges and universities for the study of flute performance. Her Flute Studio specializes in exercises, audition materials and advice, as well as performance techniques for the next generation of flutists.

Amy’s popular workshop Anatomy of Sound, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, focuses on the wellness and mindfulness needed to be a successful musician and entrepreneur. Building on Anatomy’s success, the new AOS-Wellness.com website offers courses in peaceful breathing, yoga and meditation, along with channels on movement, meditation, wisdom, practice, and breathing. Through these platforms, Porter highlights the importance of self-care as a direct path to a successful musical career.

Moreover, in an effort to create holistic experiences for orchestras, presenters and their respective audiences, Amy offers mini-residencies alongside her performances. There, she can connect 1:1 with her colleagues and audiences to support, inspire, and reinvigorate musicians and music listeners.

Winner of the 3rd Kobe International Flute Competition and the Paris/Ville d’Avray International Flute Competition, Ms. Porter has served on international juries around the world, including the 6th Kobe competition. She has been heard in recital on National Public Radio; on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center; and featured on the covers and as a writer for the magazines Flute Talk in the USA and The Flute in Japan. Her popular study guide on the early 20-century German composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert elicited the following comment from the Spanish Flute Society: “Strength, beauty, a captivating and seductive force, sensitivity, perfection and a sense of humor characterize the impressive American flautist Amy Porter.”

She has won praise both as a recording artist and as a chamber musician. Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, in her New York Times review of the CD “In Translation: Selections from J.S. Bach’s Cello Suites” on the Equilibrium label, applauded Ms. Porter for her “gleaming, lyrical reading.”

As a member of Trio Virado, with violist Jaime Amador and guitarist João Luiz, she recorded “Mangabeira,” a CD featuring works by Piazzolla, Brouwer, Hand, Assad, and Luiz, about which Ken Keaton wrote in American Record Guide: “They [Trio Virado] present a set of performances that are unfailingly strong, expressive, and imaginative.”

Formerly a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Porter is Principal Flute of North Carolina’s Brevard Music Center, where she performs as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player.

Born in Wilmington, DE, Ms. Porter graduated from The Juilliard School and pursued further studies at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg. She plays a 14K white gold flute with rose gold engraved keys made for her by the William S. Haynes Co.