Flute Masterclass with Tara Helen O’Connor (2025)
Join longtime CMNW musician and one of the world’s leading flute players, Tara Helen O’Connor, as she coaches several of our region’s best young flutists to help them improve their skill and technique. Whether you are a flutist or enjoy learning more about how musicians learn and hone their skills, you’ll be inspired watching and hearing the growth that takes place in such a short time with this expert teacher.
Lincoln Recital Hall, Portland State University
July 7, 12-2 pm | Tara Helen O’Connor
This masterclass is sponsored by Marvin & Abby Dawson.
PSU, College of the Arts, Lincoln Recital Hall
Monday, 7/7 • 12:00 pm PT
Artists
-
Tara Helen O’Connor
Flute
-
Tara Helen O’Connor, who Art Mag has said “so embodies perfection on the flute that you’ll forget she is human,” is an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, a two-time Grammy Award nominee, and a recipient of the Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award. A Wm.S. Haynes artist, she is a season artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She is professor of flute at the Yale School of Music and is the Artistic Director of the “Music from Angel Fire” Festival and in 2026, the Essex Winter Series.
Tara has also appeared on numerous film and television soundtracks including Barbie, Respect, The Joker, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Only Murders in the Building, and Schmigadoon! Festival appearances include the Bravo! Vail festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Music@Menlo, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music, the Great Mountains Music Festival, and Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival.
A charismatic performer noted for her artistic depth, brilliant technique and colorful tone spanning every musical era, O’Connor has collaborated with such distinguished artists as vocalists Jennifer Johnson Cano, Susanna Phillips and Dawn Upshaw, violinist Jaime Laredo, clarinetist David Shifrin, guitarist Eliot Fisk, and pianists Jeremy Denk, Peter Serkin, and Stephen Prutsman, and with such revered ensembles as the Emerson, Orion, and St. Lawrence string quartets.
Tara has appeared on A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts, PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center and has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, Koch International, CMS Studio Recordings and Bridge Records.