Wendy Herbener Mehne
Principal Flute
Wendy Herbener Mehne is professor of flute at Ithaca College and a member of the Ithaca Wind Sextet. She was also a 1995-96 Dana Teaching Fellow and the 2004 London Sabbatical Scholar at Ithaca College. With Pulitzer prize-winning composer, Steven Stucky, and colleagues from Ithaca College and Cornell University, she was a founding member of the new music group, Ensemble X. Together they made recordings of chamber music by Steven Stucky, Judith Weir, and John David Earnest. Mehne has been a guest artist and given master classes throughout the United States and has performed with the Chautauqua Symphony and at the Skaneateles Festival. As a member of the Ithaca Wind Quintet, she gave the world premiere of Karel Husa's Cayuga Lake (Memories) at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and Dana Wilson's Mirrors at the 1993 National Flute Association convention in Boston. As a soloist, she gave the National Flute Association convention premiere performance of Dana Wilson’s The Conjurer in 2017. Mehne has also performed at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Constitution Hall, the national ACDA and SEAMUS conferences, the International Guitar Festival in Fort de France, Martinique, numerous National Flute Association conventions, and in broadcasts by affiliates of National Public Radio and Public Television. She has been secretary of the National Flute Association and served on its executive board and board of directors. Mehne is a contributing author for Flutist Quarterly, Flute Talk and the Instrumentalist, and has recorded for the Koch, Albany, Mark, and Open Loop labels. Her solo CD, The Conjurer: Chamber Music for Flute by Dana Wilson, was released in August 2016.
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INSIGHTS
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What made you take up your instrument as a child?
My mother took me to a flute recital when I was 8 years old and I fell in love with the sound. It felt like my musical voice.
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What inspires you to make music?
Collaborating with excellent musical artists, the opportunity to creatively communicate with an audience, and the life-long learning that comes from the process of practicing, exploring, and performing music.
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What is special about the CCO, to you?
It's more than the repertoire and excitement that comes from orchestral playing. The CCO is one of the most collaborative orchestras I have ever been associated with and a true musical family. I also love playing for the CCO audiences, especially when we have a full house. The energy and support we receive from them is inspiring
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Describe a favorite moment or memory with the CCO.
Performing the Vivaldi Goldfinch Concerto with my amazing CCO colleagues and Cornelia Laemmli Orth. That performance is on my top list of the most fun I've ever had on stage.
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Is there something you would like CCO audience members to know about you that isn't in your bio?
I have been very fortunate to have a career doing something I love. One of my brothers, who is not a musician, has periodically asked me over the years if I won the lottery, would I stop working. My response has always been a resounding "No.
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