CONOR NELSON
International Flute Institute

Oklahoma State University; Grand Prize Winner, WAMSO Young Artist Competition

Currently Assistant Professor of Flute at Oklahoma State University, Canadian flutist Conor Nelson recently became the first wind player to win the Grand Prize at the WAMSO Young Artist Competition and will subsequently perform with the Minnesota Orchestra. Following his debut performing concerti of Bach and Mozart with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, he presented his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, which was praised as “nothing short of spectacular” by the New York Concert Review.

He has appeared as soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra, the Yale and Manhattan Philharmonias, the Stony Brook Symphony, the Oshawa-Durham Symphony Orchestra, the Brevard Repertory Orchestra, the Festival Wind Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra and at the Banff Centre. In addition, he has received top prizes at the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition and the Haynes International Flute Competition.

As a chamber musician, he performs regularly with marimbist/percussionist, Ayano Kataoka as part of the Conor and Ayano Duo. Recently the duo performed in Merkin Concert Hall and CAMI Hall in New York, The Tokyo Opera City Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and Izumi Hall in Japan and as guest artists for the Ottawa Flute Association in Canada. He has also collaborated with Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Ani Kavafian, Colin Carr, Jesse Levine, Susan Narucki, Darrett Adkins, and the Biava and Calder string quartets.

With the Intrada Winds he was a prizewinner at the Fischoff, Coleman and Yellow Springs national chamber music competitions. Festival appearances have included the OK Mozart International Festival, Yellow Barn, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Contemporary Ensemble, the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute, Chamber Music Quad Cities and the Aspen, Banff, and Brevard summer music festivals.

An active educator, he has given master classes at schools such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin Madison, Manhattan School of Music, the University of Iowa, The University of North Texas, The University of Oklahoma, Long Island Conservatory, Illinois State University and the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory among several others.

A Presser scholar, he received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music where he became one of the youngest woodwind players to win the school-wide concerto competition. He received much acclaim for the subsequent performance of John Corigliano's Pied Piper Fantasy with the Manhattan Philharmonia. He earned his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music where he was recipient of the Thomas Nyfenger prize and winner of the Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition. He completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University where he was winner of the concerto competition and instructed the undergraduate flute studio. His principal teachers include Carol Wincenc, Ransom Wilson, Linda Chesis and Susan Hoeppner.