Frank and Lu Horsfall Competition
CONGRATULATIONS, 2023 HORSFALL WINNERS!
UPPER DIVISION
1st Place - Claire Wei
2nd Place - Manami Chiba
3rd Place - Charis Tam
Honorable Mentions - Joseph Jeon and Peyton Welsch
LOWER DIVISION
1st Place - Zifei Liu
2nd Place - Natalia Carmona
3rd Place - Marcus So
Honorable Mentions - Xinyi Ji and Esther Min
The Frank and Lu Horsfall Competition is an annual competition for flutists in grades 6-12 sponsored by the Seattle Flute Society. Applicants must be currently studying with a private flute teacher, and both the applicant and the teacher must be members of Seattle Flute Society.
Horsfall Competition
Saturday, March 11, 2023 | 12:00-6:00pm
University of Washington School of Music
THIS IS A FREE EVENT
Attendance may be limited due to health and safety concerns.
Adjudicator Recital
Sunday, March 12, 2023 | 1:30pm
Music Center of the Northwest
901 N 96th St, Seattle, WA 98103
THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT
Horsfall Participants FREE | SFS Members $15 | Non-Members $25
2023 Adjudicators
Upper Division: Mihoko Watanabe
Flutist Mihoko Watanabe, a native of Japan, is Professor of Flute at Ball State University and chair of the Certificate in Entrepreneurial Music program. Before joining the School of Music, Dr. Watanabe taught at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, and the University of Windsor, Canada.
Dr. Watanabe has won competitions sponsored by the Japan Flute Association and the National Flute Association (NFA) and has appeared in Japan, Israel, Canada, England, and the USA as a celebrated and versatile international performer, recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist. She is a member of the faculty woodwind quintet, the Musica Arts Quintet (MAQ). The MAQ has been awarded the prestigious 2010 American Masterpieces grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support a performance tour and CD entitled “American Breeze,” which was released in 2012 from Albany Records. She was the founding member of the Hibiki (響) Trio, comprised of Ball State faculty (flute, viola, and harp). The Hibiki Trio was invited by the College Music Society (CMS) to present a performance and lecture-recital in 2015 and 2016 nationally.
She was a member of Trio Flurineto (flute, clarinet, and piano) at Ball State, and the Trio performed nationally at various universities, the 2010 NFA Convention, and the 2011 International Clarinet Association Convention. Independent of her participation in Ball State chamber ensembles, she is a founding member of Trio Piacere (flute, cello, piano), which has performed internationally, and a member of DUO VIVA (two flutes). In 2006, Duo Viva recorded “Doppler Effect,” a CD released by and available from Little Piper. Trio Harmonia (flute, viola, and piano) was invited to perform at the 2017 NFA Convention in Minneapolis, MN.
Dr. Watanabe has held several principal flute positions and performed with American and Canadian orchestras. Currently, she is the principal flutist of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Previously, she has performed with the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Lansing Philharmonic Orchestra, Farmington Area Philharmonic, Warren Symphony Orchestra, Pontiac-Oakland Symphony, Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra, Brevard Music Center Orchestra, Windsor Symphony Orchestra (Canada), and Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra (Canada). In 2012, she premiered From Days of Yore, a flute concerto written by Jody Nagel, with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra. In 2007, she was invited to perform CPE Bach Flute Concerto in d minor with Mt. Carmel Chamber Orchestra in Israel. Dr. Watanabe has performed numerous lecture recitals, panel discussions, and workshops at conferences nationally and internationally, such as the annual conferences of the National Flute Association (NFA), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Flöte e.V. (DGfF e.V.), British Flute Society, International Double Reed Society, International Clarinet Association, and CMS. She has also been invited to perform for regional flute festivals in the USA. Dr. Watanabe is an enthusiastic teacher and travels widely as a clinician, presenting master classes throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan. She has adjudicated at national and international competitions, including the Kiwanis Music Festival in Canada, Regional Flute Festival competitions in the USA, and various NFA Competitions (Young Artist, Arts Venture, and Graduate Research). She was appointed to be on the Brevard Music Center summer festival faculty in 2005, and she has been on the Music for All Summer Symposium faculty since 2012, the Benefic Chamber Music Camp faculty since 2013, and the Fresno Opera & Orchestra Summer Academy since 2015. As a pedagogue, she was featured in the December issue of Flute Talk magazine in 2009.
In addition to being a gifted flutist, Dr. Watanabe is also devoted to the field of ethnomusicology, which she studied extensively at the University of Michigan. Her interest in Japanese traditional music led to a faculty development grant from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, to research Kazuo Fukushima’s Mei for solo flute in Japan. Her research resulted in a feature article in the Spring 2008 issue of The Flutist Quarterly. It led to lecture-recitals at the 2007 NFA Convention, the 2010 British Flute Association Convention in England, and the 2013 International Flute Festival at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in Germany. In 2011, her article was translated into Dutch and published in the Nederlands Fluit Genootschap’s Fluit, the official journal of the Dutch Flute Association. In 2013, the article was translated into German for the DGfG e.V.’s Flöte aktuell, official journal.
As an advocate of studies in entrepreneurial music, Dr. Watanabe has participated in the Savvy Musicians in Action Workshop in 2015 and received the top prize “the 2015 SAVVY Arts Venture Challenge” with Janet’s band. In 2016, she was invited to present at the CMS National Conference in Santa Fe, NM, and at the National Association of School of Music (NASM) Conferences in Dallas, TX, in 2016. She was invited to be a panelist and a facilitator for a meeting for the 2019 Carolina/CMS Summit 2.0: 21st Century Music. In 2021, she will present at the NETMCDO 2021Virtual Conference.
Dr. Watanabe served as the Greater Indianapolis Flute Club president from 2010-2013 and currently the board member of the flute club. She is a member of the NFA flute club committees.
Dr. Watanabe received her doctorate from the University of Michigan, her master’s degree and performer's certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and her bachelor’s degree from the Musashino Academia Musicae in Tokyo, Japan. Her teachers have included Bonita Boyd, Leone Buyse, Fenwick Smith, and Takao Saeki. She attended the Aspen Music Festival with Martha Aaron and Mark Sparks, Julius Baker’s Summer Masterclasses, Orchestral Institute with Ervin Monroe, and Domaine Forget International Music and Dance Academy with Alain Marion, Emmanuel Pahud, Lise Daoust, André Papillon, and Jean Morin. Also, she participated in Jeanne Baxtresser’s Orchestral Masterclass in Maryland and Walfrid Kujala’s Orchestral Masterclass in Chicago. She also has privately studied with Jeff Zook.
Lower Division: Gabriela Gimenes
Gabriela Gimenes holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from University of North Texas, Master of Music from University of Central Arkansas, and Bachelor of Music from Sao Paulo State University. Her primary teachers are Marcia Guedes, Jean Noel Sagahaard, Jose Ananias, Marcus Kiehl, Carolyn Brown, and Mary Karen Clardy. Gabriela was an adjutant professor at Harding University and Brookhaven College, as well as chair of the Online Music department at Universidade Metropolitana de Santos.
She has played with Sao Paulo Youth Wind Symphony, Conway Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Academica do Estado de São Paulo, Fiddler on the Roof Production in São Paulo Brazil, as well as flute substitute for Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, USP Symphony Orquestra, Theatro São Pedro Symphony Orchestra, and Wicked production in São Paulo. At UNT, she was also a member of UNT woodwind quintet and teaching assistant for 4 years.
She is a winner of Arkansas 2004-05 MTNA Competition state division and honorable mention at region division. She also won the 2005 Concerto competition at University of Central Arkansas. In 2016, she was featured as a soloist with Cubatão Symphonic Band and São Paulo State Wind Symphony. She was a woodwind teacher at Bravo Youth Orchestras in Portland, OR. Currently she is an artist for Sorpo Novo Project at Yamaha Musical do Brasil and adjunct flute professor at University of Mobile online classes. Gabriela has published a Flute notebook through Ricordi for Yamaha Musical do Brasil in 2013.
Horsfall History
Frank H. Horsfall (1883-1968) was a prominent Pacific Northwest musician who directly or indirectly influenced a great many flutists locally and nationally. He was in the Seattle Symphony for 46 continuous seasons (35 of those as Principal), a member of the University of Washington faculty for 20 years, and a friend and colleague of many renowned artists. He was a sought-after obbligatist for stars such as Lily Pons, Lauritz Melchior, Patrice Munzel and Martha Graham. He also enjoyed playing in the Western Washington Fair Band every September for 25 years and marching with the Nile Temple Band at conventions and parades whenever his busy schedule would allow it. He had many offers to join major eastern symphonies, but chose to stay with the students and musical associations in his beloved Northwest. His greatest pleasure was in teaching. He taught for nearly 60 years and many of his students gained prominence of their own in famous orchestras across the country.
Frank Horsfall with students
Frank was born in Tacoma of English parents who had emigrated from Yorkshire in 1867. When Washington became a state in 1889 his father was a Tacoma Councilman. After the 8th grade, Frank left school and entered into a four-year apprenticeship to become a machinist. On the side, he learned to play a fife, talked his way into a fife-and-drum corps, bought a $2 piccolo and a $10 flute and began his musical career. He set aside one third of his wages for lessons and would search out any appropriate music professional who came within reach, for good teachers were hard to find. He also took several off-hours business courses in order to manage his future financial affairs. All his life, he looked for ways to learn, improve and expand his knowledge.
In 1901 he became a journeyman machinist and worked at that trade with music as an avocation. At age 22, having also learned to play the saxophone, he put aside machinist tools to play flute and sax in local dance orchestras. The big break came in 1909 - an invitation to be a member of the original Seattle Symphony Orchestra. To augment his symphony income he taught a few lessons and played in park bands, dance bands and pit orchestras for vaudeville, ballets and musical comedies. He and two other flutists even formed an act, "The Three Magic Flutes", and toured for a short time on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. During World War I he was a machinist at the shipyard by day and a musician by night, but when the war ended he again devoted his full attention to music.
Lulu C. Smith (1889-1983) was born in Minneapolis of Norwegian and German parents who moved to Tacoma when she was a toddler. She became an expert pianist and Frank's favorite dancing partner. They were married in 1913 and she shared his life for 55 years thereafter, creating a loving home for their two sons and a supportive atmosphere for her musician husband. She was continuously active in school and university organizations and in music circles. Lu was a talented artist, seamstress and cook. The students who sat in her warm kitchen waiting for their lessons appreciated her cheery ways.
Frank's long career encompassed many activities and interests. He was a business manager, real estate entrepreneur, artistic photographer and lifelong adventurer. In 1920 he and Lu went up the inside coast of British Columbia in a small outboard boat, camping on the wild beaches each night. He climbed Mt. Rainier in 1925, starting from the Longmire's residence, where Lu helped attend to those waiting for the return of the hiking party. One summer he and three other musicians hiked 300 miles through Glacier National Park. Each evening they would haul out their instruments to entertain fellow campers. When over 80 years old, he photographed Kauai's Waimea Canyon leaning out of an open helicopter.
An outgoing man, with effervescence and enthusiasm, he was never one to hold back if the opportunity came along to make new friends. After a concert by the touring London Philharmonic Orchestra, for example, he went backstage to meet the flute section. That evening, after taking them on a tour of Seattle, they all ended up in his basement studio playing music from his library and enjoying Lu's gracious hospitality.
In the mid-30's, he joined with the principal clarinet and oboe players of the symphony, both teachers interested in youth, to form the Seattle Symphony Woodwind Trio. They are still remembered for the humorous and educational music-appreciation programs they put on at countless school assemblies.
Certainly he was proud of what he was able to achieve in his lifetime, but he took the most pride in the accomplishments of his students. As their lives progressed, he would follow their advancements with the interest of a parent. Julius Baker, during one visit to the Seattle Flute Society, mentioned his long acquaintance with Frank and commented, "Bill Kincaid and I envied Frank's natural rapport and easy way with young people -- he loved his students and they loved him."
His last private lesson was given just three months before his death in March 1968, at the age of 84. Lu, blessed with good health and a bright-side philosophy, continued to lead an active life until her death in November 1983, at 94.
The Seattle Flute Society's Frank and Lu Horsfall Competition helps perpetuate their memory and the influence they had on the musical history of the Pacific Northwest.
-- Contributed by John Horsfall
Past Winners
Have names to add to this list? Contact seattleflute.publicity@gmail.com