Leah Stevens - 2021 Award Winner 

Leah Stevens is a second year Flute Fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, and Second Flute/Piccolo/Assistant Principal flute with the Owensboro Symphony in Kentucky.

As an orchestral musician, she has served as principal flute with The Orchestra Now and substituted with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Quad Cities Symphony, South Bend Symphony, and the Lexington Philharmonic. Ms. Stevens was awarded First Prize in the Orchestral Audition and Masterclass and Second Prize in the Piccolo Orchestral Audition and Masterclass at the 2017 National Flute Association Convention. She has also won First Prize in the Flute Society of St. Louis Young Artist Competition, and Honorable Mention in the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition at the state level in Nebraska.

As a teacher, Ms. Stevens enjoys working with students of all ages, levels, and backgrounds. In 2018, she completed a master class and recital tour of Greater St. Louis and central and southern Missouri, focusing on giving students career advice pertaining to navigating the professional world after graduation. She has also worked for The People's Music School in Chicago, IL, an organization that strives to provide music education to underprivileged children, as a part of their Greater South Side outreach in Grand Crossing. Ms. Stevens has been a recurring clinician for the Flute Society of St. Louis, teaching middle school and high school masterclasses, orchestral excerpt masterclasses, and warm ups. She also runs an online orchestral excerpt coaching and career consultation service for aspiring orchestral musicians; not only giving them tips and tricks for individual excerpts and mock audition feedback, but giving them an “inside look” at the classical music industry to help them choose the career path that’s best for them.

Flute Concert, November 2021 - Leah Stevens