The Ransom Wilson Italy Masterclasses
Faculty & Staff
Ransom Wilson
Ransom Wilson is an Artist Member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Professor of Flute at Yale University, as well as Music Director of the orchestra at the Idyllwild Academy of the Arts. Ransom has appeared with major orchestras around the world, and has played in recital with many of the greatest musicians of our time. He was educated at the North Carolina School of the Arts and The Juilliard School. For post-graduate work, he was an Atlantique Foundation scholar in Paris for a year, studying privately with Jean-Pierre Rampal. His other flute teachers have included Alain Marion, Philip Dunigan, Sandra Taylor, Lawrence Morgan, Severino Gazzelloni, Julius Baker, Christian Lardé, and Arthur Lora. Mr. Wilson has recorded 30 albums as either flutist and conductor, and was three times nominated for the "Grammy" award. Other awards he has received include the Alabama Prize from the New York Times Foundation, and the Award of Merit in Gold, from the Republic of Austria. Ransom is a frequent jury member of international competitions and recently gave a weeklong masterclass at the Paris Conservatory .
Douglas Ashcraft
Pianist Douglas Ashcraft has performed to acclaim in recitals and concerts throughout the United States and in Europe. A winner of prizes in many competitions, he began his formal training as a student of Aldo Mancinelli. Graduate studies followed at the University of Southern California where he worked with pianist John Perry. During those summers he participated in classes at the Aspen Music Festival and the Holland Music Sessions in Alkmaar, Netherlands, as a student of pianists John O'Conor, Marie Francoise Bucquet, and Gyorgy Sandor. As a result of his participation in the Holland Music Sessions he was invited to perform in recital at Amsterdam's famed Concertgebouw. In addition to his solo work Douglas Ashcraft is an active chamber musician and has performed in recitals at Carnegie Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, London's Wigmore Hall, and Jacqueline Du Pre Hall at Oxford University in England. A recent recital at Wigmore Hall with cellist Kathryn Price received high praise by the British Journal, 'Musical Opinion.' In February of 2002 Mr. Ashcraft made his live BBC Radio 3 debut in London. In 2001, he was featured in recital at the famed OK Mozart festival and returned to the festival this past summer in a concerto performance with the Solisti New York Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Ransom Wilson. Mr. Ashcraft also serves as principal keyboardist for that ensemble. Douglas Ashcraft is currently a member of the artist faculty at Idyllwild Arts Academy, a prestigious boarding school in southern California which offers professional training to students of high school age who are preparing for a career in the arts.
Sergio Pallottelli
Internationally acclaimed flutist Sergio Pallottelli regularly performs as soloist and chamber musician throughout the USA, Europe, South America and Australia. Mr. Pallottelli has been the flutist with the Orchestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo, Utah Philharmonia, Utah Chamber Artists, Waterbury Symphony, and Rotary International Orchestra. For four years he was a member of Canyonlands New Music Ensemble directed by Morris Rosenzweig in Salt Lake City, Utah. During this time he collaborated with avant-garde composers such as Mario Davidovsky, Milton Babbit, Shulamit Ran, Samuel Adler and John Adams.
Mr. Pallottelli teaches master classes annually in Lima, Peru; Quito, Ecuador; San Jose, Costa Rica; and Monterchi, Italy; as well as throughout the USA. In Italy he is maestro Ransom Wilson’s assistant in his yearly master class in Tuscany. The many festivals he has appeared at as a performer or teacher include Nice Summer Music Academy, France; Festival de Flautistas en la Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador; Festival Internacional de Flautistas, Peru; and Festival de Flautistas in San Jose, Costa Rica, just to mention a few. He is in high demand worldwide, as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher.
Mr. Pallottelli collaborates with American pianist and composer John Orfe who wrote a sonata for him in 2004. This piece was premiered to great acclaim at the University of Utah in November of that year. He also regularly performs with pianist Douglas Ashcraft, with whom he travels to South America and Europe. They recorded a compact disc of Italian Romantic Music for flute and piano in August 2006 on the Brioso Recordings CD label.
Sergio Pallottelli received his musical education at the Milan Conservatory, Italy, the University of Utah, and the Yale school of Music. His teachers have included his principal teacher and mentor Ransom Wilson, Roberto Fabbriciani, Tara O’Connor and Susan Goodfellow. For two summers he was privileged to study with French flutist Maxence Larrieu.
Mr. Pallottelli makes his home in New Haven, Connecticut where he maintains a private studio of advanced flutists, and holds faculty positions at The Taft School and the University of Bridgeport.
Steven Finley
After having received his Bachelor’s Degree and Artist Diploma credits from the Peabody Institute of Music at John’s Hopkins University, Steven P. Finley began a 20-year tenure at Verne Q. Powell Flutes, of which he spent the last 5 years as Vice-President of Artistic Quality and Design. His primary teachers include Britton Johnson, Bernard Z. Goldberg, and Doriot Anthony Dwyer.
Mr. Finley has performed with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Boston Academy of Music, Pittsburgh Symphony, and was formerly assistant principal flutist with the Caracas Philharmonic in Venezuela. He has performed with many great conductors, such as Bernstein, Dutoit, Ozawa, and Commissiona.
Mr. Finley performs regularly with the Fensgate Chamber Players (Boston), and teaches students at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As founder of FluteFX and repairman extraordinaire, he presents lecture recitals on flutes, flute-design, and flutists, throughout Asia, Europe, and North America
