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SCFS Fall Seminar Saturday, November 14, 2009
Schedule
In addition to his distinguished career as a teacher, performer, and recording artist, he is actively engaged in exploring traditional Arabic improvisation techniques, an outgrowth of his long-standing interest in jazz. This search has led him to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, and Israel. Dr. de Wetter-Smith has combined his work in the Middle East with the study of Brazilian jazz/folk elements, suggesting a close connection between traditional Arabic music and western jazz traditions via West Africa. In addition to his music accomplishments, Brooks de Wetter-Smith is a published photographer who has worked in the Himalayas above Mt. Everest base camp, the Peruvian Andes, the deserts of Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, the Amazonian jungle of Brazil, Antarctica, and the high Arctic. He is about to release a commercially available DVD of his Antarctic photography accompanied by newly commissioned work for voice, flute, string quartet, harp, percussion and narrator, entitled Iceblink, for Centaur records. He frequently travels to present another Antarctic project that also features his photography, narration and flute improvisation, called Southern Ice. Current projects include preparing a multimedia production of his photography, newly commissioned music by Terry Mizesko, and paintings by Nerys Levy that engage issues of global climate change. A former president of the National Flute Association, he is the James Gordon Hanes Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he teaches flute and a course on the history of jazz.
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Brooks de Wetter-Smith is in great international demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and masterclass teacher, having given concerts in 20 nations (Eastern- and Western-Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America) and nearly all 50 states. His recordings have been released on the Albany, Aurophon, Centaur, Christophorus, Crystal, and Paulinas labels, spanning baroque, romantic, twentieth-century, and jazz-inspired repertoire; and his live performances have been featured on broadcasts in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. A number of his music editions have been published by International Music Company and Southern Music. He is an internationally recognized authority on 19th-century flute literature as well as extended performance techniques. Dr. de Wetter-Smith was awarded a Fulbright Senior Professorship to teach at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich and Cologne, and at the Music Conservatory of Lisbon, Portugal.