James DeVoll
Guest Musician
Flutist James DeVoll has appeared on concerts and recitals throughout the United States and Europe. Recent performances include Britten’s War Requiem in Germany, Steve Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint at Yale under the guidance of the composer, and the world premiere of Joshua Musikantow’s Lisp! for solo flute, winner of the Jerome Fund for New Music by the American Composers Forum. Based in the Twin Cities, he maintains a busy freelance schedule performing in a variety of settings. In addition to playing principal flute with the Wayzata Symphony Orchestra, he has performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the South Dakota Symphony, the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, the La Crosse Symphony, and has worked with dozens of composers in the premieres of over 30 works with groups including the American Composers Forum, the Contemporary Music Workshop, and New Music New Haven. In Europe, he spent two summers working with composers at the Centre Acanthes festival for contemporary music in France. Other performances have included venues in England, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany, and throughout France. He has been heard on Classical Minnesota Public Radio and APM’s nationally syndicated Performance Today. He has also performed at the National Flute Conventions in New York City and in Kansas City, where he was a winner of the 2008 Convention Performers Competition.
As an educator, he is on the faculty of Gustavus Adolphus College and MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. His students have won competitions, scholarships, and admission as music majors to universities and conservatories around the country. Locally, his students include members of the Minnesota Youth Symphony (MYS) and the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS), the Minnesota All-State Band and Orchestra, winners of concerto competitions, and summer music festival participants. He was recently a clinician for the Minnesota All-State Band, and has adjudicated several Solo and Ensemble Contests and competitions. Each summer he teaches at Floot Fire, an intensive camp for flutists in Dallas. This summer he also taught at the International Music Camp and a newly created flute camp at MacPhail. He currently serves as President of the Upper Midwest Flute Association (UMFA).
Originally from Dallas, TX, James studied at Yale and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Additional studies were in France, where he obtained a diplôme from the Conservatoire Internationale d’Été, in Nice, and he is currently completing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Minnesota. His principal teachers include Julia Bogorad–Kogan, Ransom Wilson, and Bradley Garner, as well as major influences from Immanuel Davis, Sophie Cherrier, and Mario Caroli. Before moving to Minnesota, James was the Chair of the Music Department at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, a private boarding High School for the Arts in California. Outside of music, he enjoys philately and reading.