About Us – Winston Salem Flute Academy

Lissie Shanahan

Lissie Shanahan is the Principal Flutist of the Asheville Symphony, a position which she has held since 2009. She also serves as the Piccoloist of the Winston-Salem Symphony. Lissie has previously served as Principal Flute with the Asheville Lyric Opera and Second Flute with the Western Piedmont Symphony. She has performed as guest Principal Flute with the New World Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Salisbury Symphony, American Singers Opera Project, Carolina Philharmonic, and the Symphony of the Mountains. She also performed in the National Repertory Orchestra and the Sarasota Music Festival. She has presented recitals at High Point University, Davidson College, Lenoir-Rhyne University, and St. Mary’s Music Academy in High Point. Her concerto performances have been with the Asheville Symphony, Birmingham-Bloomfield Symphony, Blue Lake Festival Orchestra, and the High Point University Orchestra. Other honors include First Prize in the 2003 Detroit Bohemian Concerto Competition and Third Prize in the 2011 Myrna Brown Artist Competition.

In addition to co-directing the WSFA, she is the Instructor of Flute at High Point University, Director of the HPU Flute Ensemble, and serves as Principal Flutist in the HPU Orchestra where students and their teachers work side by side in weekly rehearsals and semester-end concerts. She has also served as Adjunct Instructor of Flute at Lenoir-Rhyne University and as Guest Instructor at the Long Island Conservatory, The Juilliard School Pre-College, and The Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts. She co-presented a piccolo masterclass at the UNC Greensboro Flute Fest as well as flute pedagogy workshops at Building Better Bands, a seminar for middle and high school music educators. She also regularly leads masterclasses at local middle and high schools. As a member of the Winston-Salem Symphony Woodwind Quintet, Lissie performs educational concerts for thousands of students in Forsyth County elementary schools and community centers each year.

Lissie received her Master of Music from The Juilliard School as a student of world-renowned flute soloist Carol Wincenc. She also holds a Bachelor of Music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she studied with eminent orchestral flutist Thomas Robertello.

Peter Shanahan

Peter serves as the instructor of flute at Radford University, Guilford College, the Winston Salem Flute Academy, and the Music Academy of North Carolina. He is a member of the Western Piedmont Symphony and performs as a freelance musician with the Charleston, Winston-Salem, Salisbury, Greensboro, Carolina Chamber and Southwest Florida Symphonies as well as the Piedmont Opera and Long Leaf Opera companies. As a member of the Open Dream Ensemble, Peter performed in three U.S. tours culminating in collaborative performances with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. As a soloist, Peter has performed the Vivaldi Piccolo Concerto in C with both the Southwest Florida Symphony and Indiana University Orchestra.

Peter is a graduate of two of the finest music schools in the U.S. He holds a Master of Music from Indiana University and Bachelor of Music from the North Carolina School of the Arts. His teachers—among the finest and most important flutists in the country today— include Thomas Robertello, Tadeu Coelho, Philip Dunigan, Ervin Monroe, and Beth Larsen.

He has presented recitals and masterclasses at the Long Island Conservatory, Davidson College, High Point University and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Peter’s students have consistently rated at the top of local and state competitions, frequently wining 1st Chair in All-State Bands and such coveted awards as 1st Prize in the South Carolina Flute Association High School Competition.