Phyllis Avidan Louke (b. 1954), an Altus Artist, serves as Music Director of Rose City Flute Choir, is principal flute with Tilikum Chamber Orchestra, freelances and is an active chamber musician in Portland, Oregon. Ms. Louke was the flute instructor at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon from 2016-2020, has taught privately since 1992, adjudicated for Solo Festivals at both the local and state level in Oregon, Washington and Alaska, is in demand as a flute clinician nationally. She has also appeared as a guest artist at flute festivals and events in California, Colorado, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Tennessee, Washington D.C., and Phoenix. In addition, her articles have appeared frequently in the national magazines, Flute Talk and The Instrumentalist. Ms. Louke graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara where she studied flute with Burnett Atkinson.
Ms.
Louke has served on the GPFS Board of Directors from 1991-2023. During that time, she has produced events with James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Michel Debost, Trevor Wye, Robert Dick, Matthias Ziegler, Bernard Z. Goldberg, Patricia George, Greg Pattillo, Nan Raphael, Jim Walker, and Zart Dombourian-Eby, Ian Clarke, Raffaele Trevisani, Sarah Jackson, Julien Beaudiment, Paul Edmund-Davies, Jim Walker, Julien Beaudiment, Jasmine Choi, Jean Ferrandis, Mark Sparks, Cavatina Duo, Trudy Kane, Valerie Coleman, and Gareth McLearnon, as well as several Northwest Composers Concerts and GPFS Members’ Recitals. She has also served on the National Flute Association Board of Directors from 2019-2022, and on the Tilikum Chamber Orchestra Board of Directors as Treasurer since 2018.
She performed with the National Flute Association (NFA) Professional Flute Choir from 1993-2017, as well as with the International Flute Orchestra (formerly the American Flute Orchestra) on their annual international tours since 1997. She also toured Provence and Dijon, France performing with the professional flute choir, Flutes of Boston, in 2002 and again in 2005 with the Florida Flute Orchestra. Ms. Louke played bass flute and contrabass flute with
the National Flute Choir on their ten ALRY Publications recordings including Over the Edge, Romancing the Flute, Christmas Flutes and High Altitude and on the International Flute Orchestra 2005 recording Serenity.
In addition to performing with the Professional Flute Choir, Ms. Louke has been an active performer and presenter at NFA Conventions. She conducted the Professional Flute Choir at the 2004 NFA Convention in Nashville, co-
conducted the High School Flute Choir at the 2001 NFA Convention in Dallas, and performed her composition for alto flute and piano, Echoes in the Wind—A Native American Soliloquy on the Exhibitors Concert at the 2003 NFA Convention in Las Vegas and Blessings and Celebration for bass flute and piano at the 2007 NFA Convention in Albuquerque. In addition she has served as a panel member for sessions on Studio Policies at the 2001 and 2002 NFA Conventions and a presentation on Extended Techniques at the 2004 NFA Convention. She has also performed with various ensembles at NFA Conventions, including the Oregon Flute Ensemble, American Directors Flute Orchestra, International Flute Orchestra, National Flute Choir, Florida Flute Orchestra, NEC Metropolitan Flute Orchestra, Colorado Flute Orchestra, Flauto Badinage, Brazos Breeze, and Rose City Flute Choir.
Ms. Louke has been arranging and composing for flute ensembles since 1990, with over 70 published works. She has also created original pedagogical materials in Extended Techniques—Double the Fun (for two flutes) and Extended Techniques—Solos for Fun (for flute and piano). She has co-authored several award-winning books with flutist Patricia George: Flute 101: Mastering the Basics (beginning flute method), Flute 101.5: Enrichment (A Method and Duet Collection for the Advanced Beginner Flutist), Flute 102: Mastering the Basics (intermediate flute method), Flute 103: Mastering the Basics (advanced intermediate flute method), Advanced Flute Studies: The Art of Chunking, The Flute Scale Book: A Path to Artistry, The Flute Vibrato Book, and Advanced Clarinet Studies: The Art of Chunking.
Many of her works have been finalists or received honorable mentions in the annual National Flute Association Newly Published Music Competition, with Of Wizards and Witches a winner in 2006. In addition, her composition Under the Big Top was awarded 2nd Place in the Hoff-Barthleson Music School Flute Club’s Composition Competition, and was premiered in Scarsdale, New York in 2000. Ms. Louke has also been the recipient of annual ASCAP awards since 2004. Her compositions have been performed at the National Flute Association’s annual convention since 2000, as well as internationally, and many have been recorded by the National
Flute Choir and other groups. Ms. Louke has studied composition with Tomas Svoboda. Her music is primarily published by ALRY Publications, Theodore Presser Company, Falls House Press, Nourse Wind Publications, Sheet Music Plus, and her books with Patricia George are published by Theodore Presser Company.
Phyllis Louke is married to trombonist and retired chemical engineer Sam Louke, and they have two musical children, Marissa and Jeremy.