A BRIEF HISTORY

It all began when Virginia Schulze-Johnson met Peggy Schecter, Professor of Flute at Montclair State University in the mid 1990s.  They talked about getting our respective flute choirs – Drew and MSU – together.  The conversation moved on to finding a program for high school age and younger students that was non-competitive.  After discussing the topic for some time, they initiated The 1st Annual NJ Flute Choir Day, which took place in 1995.  Primarily held on the Drew University Campus, they attracted 80 participants and presented the concert at the Methodist Church at the corner of the campus.  Being a very successful program, they decided to move forward and added the Adult class, the auditioned Level 5, Level 1 for Grade 6 and under and the Finale.   In 1997, they moved from the Methodist Church to Grace Episcopal Church and in 2005 they moved to the Drew Concert Hall at Drew University.

FLUTE CHOIR DAY FINALES:  To celebrate the Millennium, they acquired a grant from Brannen-Cooper Fund for Ricky Lombardo to write a Finale for the program:  Renaissance for a New Millennium.  Alexandra Molnar-Suhadja wrote Spirit of the Wind for the 25th Annual NJ Flute Choir Day Finale and L. Elise Carter is commissioned to write the Finale for the 26th Annual NJ FCD.

GUEST ARTISTS:  They began with Gary Schocker in 2004 and continued with Mimi Stillman in 2005, Nan Raphael in 2006, Peter Bacchus in  2007, Katherine Hoover in 2008, Robert Dick in 2009, Kelly Via  in 2010, Phyllis Avidan Louke  in 2011, Susan Milan in 2012, John Bailey in 2013, John McMurtery in 2014, Valerie Coleman in 2015, Alexa Still in 2016, Peter Sheridan in 2017, Bart Feller in 2018 and Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda in 2019 for the 25th Anniversary.

2020 Flute Choir Day has been cancelled, and the next Flute Choir Day will take place in 2021. 

The program is sponsored by the New Jersey Flute Society.