Helen Bledsoe © Klaus Rudolph
Helen Bledsoe
After placing first at the Gaudeamus International Interpreter’s Competition, Helen is active as a soloist, ensemble player, teacher, improviser, author and creator of experimental electronic works. As a soloist and ensemble member of Cologne’s renowned Ensemble Musikfabrik, she has collaborated and premiered works by numerous composers such as Georges Aperghis, Rebecca Saunders, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Liza Lim and Brian Ferneyhough. She has given courses world-wide and taught at the Conservatory of Bremen (Hochschule für Künste) from 2005 – 2013. Her research and writing has been published by Tempo, Contemporary Music Review, Pan (journal of the British Flute Society), and Flute Talk Magazine. Her blog on contemporary flute techniques and composing for flute has been a basis of research and teaching for flutists and composers.
As a soloist Helen has appeared in many well-known festivals such as the Münchener Biennale, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Warsaw Autumn, the Dartington Summer Festival, Nordic Music Days, and the Takefu International Music festival in Japan. Other memorable performances include several appearances in the Sound Ways Festival of St. Petersburg (Russia), the Festival de Música Contemporánea in Morelia, Mexico, and a benefit concert for the Buddhist Temple Ustuu Huree in Chadan, Tuva.
Her broad musical education, beginning age nine with the harpsichord, comes from various places around the globe: At the age of twenty, she earned a BA (Bachelor of Arts) summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with Bernard Goldberg. There, with members of the University Collegium Musicum, she also studied recorder and traverso. From Indiana University, Bloomington she earned her Masters Degree with Peter Lloyd and Kate Lukas.
Post graduate achievements include an Artist Diploma with the highest distinction from the Amsterdam Conservatory with Harrie Starreveld. During that period she also pursued studies in Carnatic music with Jahnavi Jayaprakash in Bangalore, India.
Between formal studies, Helen has had the privilege of studying with Robert Dick and Aurèle Nicolet.
As of July 2019