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 at the Elder Conservatorium of Music 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 Winston 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 The Australian Youth Orchestra 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 also for the 2009 Australian Flute Festival, University of Adelaide.

   In early 2011, Elizabeth organised a study trip with her advanced students to London and Paris and participated in masterclasses with some of the top teachers and players in Europe. She also organised a collaborative concert with her students and flute students from the Ecole Normal Superieur in Paris in Salle Munch. The classes were with Paul Edmund-Davies (former Principal Flute, London Symphony Orchestra), Susan Milan and Simon Channing (Royal Collegeo of Music, London), Michael Cox (Principal Flute BBC Symphony Orchestra), Patricia Nagle and Jean Ferrandis (Ecole Normal Superieur, Paris) and Philippe Bernold (Paris Conservatoire). A fourth study trip is presently in the planning stages for 2015 to Europe.

  In 2011 Elizabeth directed the second Michael Cox Flute Course to be held in Adelaide, with plans are for a further Cox flute course in Adelaide in 2015/2016.

  In 2013 Elizabeth was guest at the Hamilton Flute Festival in New Zealand and presented a flute masterclass at the Faculty of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia. She was Curator of the Elder Conservtorium of Music's Bach Festival in September 2014 and is planning the next Bach Festival for October 2015.

  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. In 2010  her student Anouvong Liensavanh was accepted at Yale University where he completed a Masters Degree. He has since been accepted at Stonybrook University and is studying for a Doctorate of Music with Carol Wincenc (Julliard). Former student Anna Cooper has been accepted into Marianne Gedigian's flute class at the University of Austin, Texas and her Elder Conservtorium single study student, 13 year old Jordan Paterson recently won an American Flute Protege International Competition and played in Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall in May 2014.

  Elizabeth has been awarded several teaching prizes, including the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Award for teaching excellence, a Carrick Citation (national), the Stephen Cole The Elder Award for Teaching Excellence (the University of Adelaide's highest teaching award) and in 2010 she won an Australian Learning and Teaching Award, the only one awarded in the University sector in South Australia for that year.

   In 2006 Elizabeth was awarded the OAM (Order of Australia Medal) for services to flute music and mentoring young musicians and in 2016 she was awarded the AM (Order of Australia).

  In 2017 Elizabeth was awarded the Higher Education Academy (UK) Senior Fellowship in recognition of her oustanding teaching and mentoring of colleagues. She is only the second academic at the Univsreity of Adelaide to receive this international recognition. Her single study student Jordan Paterson won the Young Artist Competition at the Australian Flute Festival in Brisbane in July 2017. Her recent graduates have been accepted at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne , the Australian Youth Orchestra, casual players with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Trevor Wye residency in the UK. Former student Anna Cooper won the Australian Flute Festival Competition in 2017.

  Elizabeth is planning a flute event with international flute guest Michael Cox, Principal Flute of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, UK. This will take place in Adelaide in April 2018. She is also coordinator of the International Study Tour, a three unit course and this will take place with a group of 14 classical Performance students in London in January and February 2018.

   

   

   

   

• Qualifications

  Bachelor of Music (Honours, First Class)

  Master of Music (Performance)

• Awards & Achievements

  Elizabeth is a recipient of a Winston Churhcill Memorial Fellowship 1976 to study the flute in Paris with Maxence Larrieu.

  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 the University of Adelaide’s highest teaching award, the Stephen Cole the Elder Excellence in Teaching Prize.

   

  In 2010 Elizabeth won an ALTC (Australian Learning and Teaching Prize) for her excellence in teaching on a national level. She was the only University teacher across all South Australian Universities to win this award.

   

  In 2017 Elizabeth was awrded the Higher Education Academy UK Senior Fellowship.

  In 2018 Elizabeth was awarded the Stephen Cole the Elder Excellence in Teaching Prize and the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence.

   

   

   

• Research Interests

  As a teacher of the flute, I have a strong interest in tone production and teaching the logistics of producing good quality sound. My scholarship is focussed on the specifics of the flute embouchure. Practice techniques are also one of the most important elements of teaching woodwind students and I encourage students to send sections of their work to me via email for me to analyse and reply with feedback.

Entry last updated: Thursday, 20 Jun 2019