Harmonic Horizons: A Flute and Guitar Journey presented by Iris Collective

Description

Step into a world where art and music converge in a truly unique setting. Iris Collective presents a concert that reimagines classical music in the Memphis Brooks Museum contemporary gallery. Featuring the captivating sounds of flute and guitar, this performance by the talented duo Elise Blatchford (flute) and Patrick Sutton (guitar) promises to be both delightfully entertaining and thought-provoking.

 

Prepare to have your senses awakened and your perspective challenged in this innovative and "out of the box" musical experience. Perfect for lovers of creativity and exploration, this event invites you to engage with music in a bold, new way.

 

Artist Bios

Elise Blatchford, flute

Praised by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for her “superb command of color and nuance,” Elise Blatchford is the Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Memphis Scheidt School of Music in Tennessee. A chamber musician, soloist, orchestral musician, and teacher, Ms. Blatchford is a flutist who embraces the independent, the experimental, and the DIY. As a founding member of the new music woodwind quintet The City of Tomorrow, Ms. Blatchford won first prize at the 2011 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and received a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning grant in 2014. The quintet tours nationally and has enjoyed residencies at Yale, Tufts, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and Williams College. Ms. Blatchford has appeared with the International Contemporary Ensemble in New York and at the Banff Centre for Creativity in Alberta, Canada.

 

As a recitalist, Ms. Blatchford frequently programs music of the 20th and 21st centuries, and has been an invited guest at venues across the U.S., including the Dame Myra Hess Series at the Chicago Cultural Center, Yale University, the University of Oregon, and Virginia Tech. 

 

Also at home in the traditional orchestra world, Ms. Blatchford served as Guest Principal Flute for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra's 2018-19 season. She has performed with the Oregon Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, IRIS Orchestra, and the YOA Orchestra of the Americas. With YOA, she toured extensively throughout South America, the Caribbean, and mainland China, made an appearance at Carnegie Hall, and recorded with Philip Glass.

 

Ms. Blatchford holds degrees in flute performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory. A Powell Artist, she performs on a 14K gold handmade Powell flute.

 

Patrick Sutton, guitar

An award-winning guitarist, chamber musician and recording artist from Evergreen, Colorado, Patrick Sutton was a featured artist at the 2016 Guitar Foundation of America Convention. His eclectic performing and teaching career has taken him to conflict zones, three coasts of Africa, both ends of Vietnam, border towns, major cities, myriad music societies, universities, and concert halls in between. 

 

Recent concerts appearances include the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, New York City Classical Guitar Society, Florida Guitar Foundation, Portland International Guitar Series, International Guitar Artist Series at the Minnesota Guitar Society, Knoxville Guitar Society, University of Cape Town in South Africa, Shanghai Conservatory in China, and the Canadian Embassy of Afghanistan. Sutton recently performed and taught as a Juilliard Global Visiting Artist at Nord Anglia international schools in Bratislava, Budapest, Dublin, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and New York City. Recent international engagements as an electric guitarist include concerts in Cairo and Alexandria with the Egyptian fusion group, The Nour Project and a concert tour of Poland with the Memphis Mix soul band. In 2018, Sutton was one of twelve musicians, including James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Natasha Bedingfield, to compose original music for the interactive art installation “Come to Your Senses” at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA).

 

His trailblazing cello & guitar duo, the Patterson/Sutton Duo, have been hailed by the Strad magazine for their “wit and imagination” and BBC Music Magazine for their “beguiling sound.” The duo often performs as guest artists throughout the United States and abroad. The duo’s research in cello and guitar performance has also culminated in chamber music lecture recitals at multiple venues, including the International Guitar Research Center at the University of Surrey in the UK and the Dublin Guitar Symposium. Sutton’s ongoing collaboration with the University of Massachusetts flute professor Cobus du Toit has led to recordings of new and lesser-known chamber music, including a recording of the complete chamber works of Jacques Castérède for the Naxos record label. The du Toit/Sutton Duo recently gave a nine-concert tour throughout South Africa to critical acclaim. Their eclectic debut album, Trîptico, features new music by world-renowned composer and guitarist Ricardo Iznaola.

 

Sutton strongly believes in educational outreach’s transformative power in developing countries. While in Kabul, Afghanistan, for guest artist residencies in 2014 and 2015, Sutton worked with the budding generation of young Afghan musicians at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and helped set up a year-by-year curriculum for the guitar program. Sutton also recently taught and performed at the Atlas Music Academy’s “Chopin in the Forest” music festival in Beni M’tir, Tunisia.

 

Sponsored by the Turley Foundation, Inc and Amy and Ronnie Wright

 

Refunds and Exchanges

All ticket sales are final and non-refundable. 

If an event is canceled, no action is required to obtain a refund; we will issue a refund to the original method of payment used at time of purchase.

If an event is postponed, rescheduled, or moved, your tickets are still valid for the new date and no further action is required. Emails will be sent to ticket holders notifying them of any available refund options for the event.

Date & Time

Thu, Feb 6, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Venue Details

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

1934 Poplar Avenue
Memphis, Tennessee 38104

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art