Associate Professor Elizabeth Koch

Biography/ Background

Associate Professor of Flute, Head of Performance and Head of Woodwind, University of Adelaide. Elizabeth studied piano with Clemens Leske for her Bachelor of Music Degree, before taking up the flute at the age of twenty with Professor David Cubbin. She graduated with First Class Honours in both flute and piano and was awarded a Master of Music Degree in Flute Performance.

Elizabeth’s orchestral experience is extensive with 27 years in the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. She was also Principal Flute of the Australian Youth Orchestra and Principal Flute of the Adelaide Chamber Orchestra. She has performed as soloist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the Adelaide Chamber Orchestra.

In 1976 Elizabeth was awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to study with Maxence Larrieu in Paris. She has performed in masterclasses with master teachers including Jean-Pierre Rampal, Alain Marion, Andras Adorjan, Sir James Galway, Susan Milan and William Bennett.

In 1992 Elizabeth attended International Flute Conventions in London and Paris, inspiring her to direct her own summer schools in Adelaide and Darwin. Elizabeth has been on the staff of many National Music Camps for Youth Music Australia and she was the first woman Director of State Music Camp in Adelaide, directing for nine consecutive years.

In 1999 and 2005, Elizabeth took several of her tertiary flute students to participate in masterclasses in London, Paris and Basel. The master teachers were William Bennett, Kirsten Spratt, Michael Cox, Susan Milan, Sophie Cherrier, Philippe Bernold, Felix Renggli and Paul Edmund-Davies.

In 2007 Elizabeth was Artistic Director of the Sydney Flute Festival and is the 2009 Artistic Director of the Australian Flute Festival, University of Adelaide.

Elizabeth continues her passion for teaching, with many of her former students playing and teaching professionally both nationally and internationally. Her students have been accepted into the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, London, the Mannes School, New York, and have won positions in Australian symphony orchestras and the Australian Youth Orchestra.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Music (Honours, First Class)

Master of Music (Performance)

Awards & Achievements

In June 2006, Elizabeth was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, for her services to flute music and for the mentoring of young musicians.

Elizabeth has been awarded a number of University prizes including the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Prize, a Carrick Citation and most recently the University of Adelaide’s highest teaching award, the Stephen Cole the Elder Excellence in Teaching Prize.

 

 

Entry last updated: Wednesday, 10 Jun 2009