Photo credit: Harrison Linsey
Flutist Tyler Menzel is an active solo, orchestral, and chamber musician. Mr. Menzel is the principal flutist of the Billings Symphony Orchestra & Chorale, and Third Flute and Solo Piccolo with the Great Falls Symphony Orchestra in Great Falls, Montana.
A passionate advocate of new music, Mr. Menzel has performed with the New Juilliard Ensemble and Juilliard’s Axiom Ensemble, both of which premier many new works by living composers. His premier performances include the United States premier of Misato Mochizuki’s Le Chambre Claire, the western-hemisphere premiere of Akira Nishimura’s Orgone, the world premiere of Andile Khumalo’s Shades of Words and the Western Hemisphere premiere of Kevin Volans’ Looping Point.
As fervent about teaching as he is about performing, Mr. Menzel is a sought-after educator with a private flute studio. He currently resides on the Board of Directors for the Montana Flute Association, for whom he was a Guest Artist for the inaugural Montana Flute Festival (2014). Mr. Menzel will return to the Interlochen Flute Institute in the summer of 2018 as a teaching assistant, a role he also served in 2017 and 2015.
His summer activities include one season as principal flutist with Opera Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, NY, two years at the Aspen Music Festival and School where he held a fellowship in the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra, and one season as principal flute of the Ohio Light Opera Orchestra. A winner of Aspen’s Woodwind Concerto Competition, Mr. Menzel performed Carl Reinecke's Flute Concerto with the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra in 2013.
From 2009-2013 Mr. Menzel was a member of the woodwind quintet Aureus Winds. Aureus Winds was dedicated to educational outreach, giving an annual week-long residency in Lake Placid, NY which featured a public performance in addition to masterclasses, band sectionals, and educational performances in schools. In addition to the annual residency, the group was awarded a Messinger Grant in 2012 to bring music to other areas around New York State that would not otherwise have access to live classical music. The Aureus Winds were also under the management of the Young Audiences of Rochester, an organization that promotes the performing arts in Rochester public schools.
Mr. Menzel holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Robert Langevin. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Bonita Boyd and was awarded Eastman’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate, the school’s highest graduation honor. Other studies include lessons with Mark Sparks of the St. Louis Symphony at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and Nancy Stagnitta, at the Interlochen Arts Academy where he graduated with a high school diploma. Mr. Menzel has performed in masterclasses for Andreas Blau and Emmanuel Pahud, former and current principal flutists of the Berlin Philharmonic respectively, as well as Paul Edmund-Davies, former principal flutist of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Once a serious pursuant of Bel Canto vocal technique, the love of opera has never left Mr. Menzel. He is currently embarking on a project to showcase the anatomical similarities between vocal tone production and tone production on the flute. In his spare time, Mr. Menzel is a serious cook with an obsessive expertise in dishes featuring the pumpkin. This activity is done in the company of his fiancé and their overly-clingy cocker-spaniel who is always nestled close.
3/27/18