Hannah Porter Occeña has been an active member of FNMC almost since the inception of the organization. In fact, she was the first non-board member to join FNMC! A Commissioning Member for both the Zhou and Pann projects, she has contributed to the organization in a variety of ways including interviewing Zhou Long for our YouTube Channel, serving as a preliminary round judge for the 2014 FNMC Composition Competition, and performing Confluence in three states (Kansas, Missouri, and North Dakota!)
 
Q&A with Hannah…
 
What about new music for the flute appeals to you?
I was hooked on new music because of its collaborative nature. I love getting to work one-on-one with composers! Although many of the pieces that I have premiered are "one-night-only" sorts of works, I have found a few gems that I perform frequently, and I thoroughly enjoy the back-and-forth work I get to do with composers while helping refine and realize their work.
 
Describe your musical background and current activities.
I knew I wanted to play the flute at age 2, and I started lessons at age 7 when I was finally big enough to hold the instrument properly. After about 10 years of claiming I wanted to be other things – teacher, orthopedic surgeon, marine biologist, astronomer, physicists/engineer, and lawyer – I decide to major in music performance and ended up at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory studying with Mary Posses. It was at UMKC that I got the new music bug – the school has outstanding composers (including Zhou Long) on faculty – and I continued to work on new music projects in my master's degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London and in the four years I spent working in Europe and the Kansas City-metro after my graduation. I am currently working on my DMA at Stony Brook University and performing with the Topeka Symphony in Kansas. 
 
What projects are you working on now?
I have a number of upcoming projects. My duo partner, Belle Chen (www.bellechen.com) and I are collaborating on a new CD titled Reflection, Remembrance, and Resilience which features music by Robert Beaser and Aaron Copland. I am also in the process of commissioning five additional pieces, including two works for flute and strings, to premiere alongside the next FNMC commission work by Carter Pann in 2018. I also have three additional recitals and a lecture recital planned as part of my degree requirements at Stony Brook.
 
What advice can you give to flutists about approaching new music in practice?
Work first at the overall shape of a piece, and see if you can map the work before you start practicing it: Where is the climax of the piece? What techniques/motifs is the composer using frequently? Is this tonal or atonal? What do I know about the piece's story? Then spend time working on whatever part of the piece is the most demanding, always remembering to end practice sessions with something easy or particularly satisfying.
 
More about Hannah…
 
Hailed by the New York Times as possessing “rich tone and deft technique,” flutist Hannah Porter Occeña is the Principal Flute of the Topeka Symphony Orchestra (Topeka, KS); previous positions include Principal Flute of the Midwest Chamber Ensemble (Prairie Village, KS) and Associate Principal Flute of the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra (Bismarck, ND). The 2012 Irene Burchard prizewinner at the Royal Academy of Music, She has performed as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and clinician throughout the Midwest and abroad.
 
Committed to the rich heritage and new horizons of the repertoire, Occeña strives to make classical works accessible and engaging to diverse audiences. Between her DMA studies, her orchestral performance and teaching responsibilities, and chasing after a two-year-old daughter, she performs informal lecture recitals—combining contemporary music, music technology, and standard repertoire—at senior citizens centers, participates in outreach concerts and programs for young people. Occeña was a commissioning member of the Flute New Music Consortium’s inaugural project, Confluence by Zhou Long, and will give a recital of newly commissioned works in February 2018.
 
Occeña is a DMA student at Stony Brook University, where she studies with Carol Wincenc, and she holds a Master of Music Dip.RAM from the Royal Academy of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. She lives on Long Island with her husband, Ryan, and their daughter, Veronica, and can be heard on New Beginnings: American and Australian Duos for Flute and Piano and Voices from the Middle with the Midwest Chamber Ensemble. Occeña is a Miyazawa Emerging Artist and plays on a Miyazawa PA-402.
 
 

In our second FNMC Member Spotlight we introduce Brittany Trotter. Brittany is one of several new members who joined in 2016 and have quickly become active in FNMC. She recently assumed the position of Corporate Sponsorship Chair.
 
Q&A with Brittany…
What is it about new music that appeals to you?
The overwhelming diversity of new styles of work is a prominent factor in why new music for the flute appeals to me. I enjoy how accepting composers are of non-traditional sounds and instrument combination. New music today is bring to light the different sounds and timbre colors the flute is capable of besides just mimicking the voice and birds. 
 
Who is your favorite “new music” composer and why?
 Jazz drummer, Antonio Sanchez has been on my radar since I heard his soundtrack work on the feature film "Birdman". What impressed me is that Sanchez composed the film's score on a drum kit while watching the footage. Sanchez's album by his fusion band "Migration" called "Meridain Suite" is a must listen as well. 
 
What are your favorite “new music” pieces and why?
Currently, my favorite new piece is Frederic Rzweski's Coming Together. I am playing it this semester with West Virginia University's New Music Ensemble. I enjoy Rzewski's bold take on big political topics and how he infused it in his pieces. For example, Coming Together is based on the letters by inmate Sam Melville. 
 
Describe your musical background and current activities.
I am a first year DMA student at West Virginia University studying under Professor Nina Assimakopoulos. I've received a bachelor of music education and performance at the University of Southern Mississippi and a Masters of Music at the University of Wyoming. I freelance around the greater Morgantown area.  
 
What flute brands do you play new music on?
I play on a DN model Murmatsu flute with a platinum Burkart headjoint with a 14K gold plated riser. 
 
When did you join FNMC and what attracted you to the organization?
I joined FNMC when my professor, Dr. Nicole Riner, asked me. I was intrigued by how, as a member of FNMC, I have voting rights on new compositions and get my very own copies of the winner's score that I help picked. FNMC also give its member the opportunity to take part in coordinated premieres. Being a member of FNMC is a new music junkie gold mine. 
 
Do you have any upcoming events you would like our friends and followers to know about?
I am a part of the WVU's graduate flute quartet , BETA, and we are have our first public performance on 10/9 at the Thomas a Becket Concert Series  at 3pm in Morgantown, WV. Please check out my website, www.brittanytrotter.com for information on more events. 
 
What advice can you give to flutists about approaching new music in practice?
My advice for flutists about approaching new music is simply GO FOR IT!
 
More about Brittany…
Brittany Trotter is an active freelancer, performer, and teacher in Morgantown, West Virginia. She has performed in various recitals and orchestras, including West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra, the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, the University of Southern Mississippi Orchestra, and substituted for Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra. 
 
As a teacher, Brittany has taught privately throughout southern Mississippi and southwestern Wyoming and was the adjunct flute professor at Laramie County Community College and the University of Wyoming flute studio graduate assistant.
 
She earned her Bachelor’s of Music Education and Music Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi and her Master's in Music at the University of Wyoming. She is currently attending West Virginia University as a recipient of the Arlen G. and Louise Stone Swiger Fellowship to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts.  Her primary teachers include Dr. Danilo Mezzadri, Dr. Nicole Riner, and Professor Nina Assimakopoulos.