Celebrating 50: Photos From Some of the Very Special Events at the NFA’s 2022 Chicago Convention

Raimundo Pineda leads the Opening Flute Choir Rehearsal

Low Flutes prepare to take the stage before the Opening Flute Choir Concert

Competitions Coordinator John Lane

Executive Director Jenny Clarke

Past President Jonathan Keeble and Vice President Rebecca Johnson

Interns Lexi Brouillard and Tiffany Ragan also checked people in

Our Equipment Intern Jy checks people in for the Gala Awards Dinner

Cheryl Lawson and composer Jennifer Higdon

Cathy Collins Herrera and Enrique Herrera

Carol Dale and Diane Boyd Schultz

President Penny Zent and Vice President Rebecca Johnson

President Penny Zent and Executive Director Jenny Clarke

Gala Awards Dinner

The annual dinner honored 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Ransom Wilson and Karl Kraber and Distinguished Service Award recipient Nancy Clew.

Fritz Kraber accepts his Lifetime Achievement Award

Ransom Wilson accepts his Lifetime Achievement Award

Penny Zent with John Bailey who accepted the Distinguished Service Award for Nancy Clew, who joined the celebration virtually

Julie Maisel

Celebrating Ransom Wilson

Students, friends, and family celebrating with Fritz Kraber

Vice President/President-Elect Jennifer Grim and Lifetime Achievement honoree Fritz Kraber

President Penny Zent, Vice President Rebecca Johnson, and Vice President/President-Elect Jennifer Grim

Congratulations to our numerous competition winners!

Three of the C.R.E.A.T.E. Project Competition finalists,Emlyn Johnson, Megan Maiorana, Lindsay Leach-Sparks, with coordinator Michelle Stanley

Jazz Artists Competition winners Joe Anderies, Sheila del Bosque Fuentes, and Leszek Wisniowski with Competition Coordinator Gwyn E. Jones

Piccolo Artists Competition winners Ester Esteban Solana, Sarah Miller, and Erica Vogel with Janet Kinmonth and James Keefe of Keefe Piccolos

Leonard Slatkin and Demarre McGill

Backstage at the Gala Concerto Concert, which featured Slatkin leading the Chicago Philharmonic in the world premieres of Jennifer Higdon’s The Light That We Can Hear and Thea Musgrave’s Piccolo Play for piccolo and string orchestra. It also included Miguel del Aguila’s Malambo, Carl Reinecke’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, and Christian Lindberg’s The World of Montuagretta, performed by Valerie Coleman, Jennifer Gunn, Kersten McCall, Demarre McGill, and Sharon Bezaly.

Demarre McGill, Jennifer Higdon, and Valerie Coleman

Chicago Philharmonic Executive Director Terell Johnson, Valerie Coleman and Aaron Goldman

Sharon Bezaly

Piccoloist Jennifer Gunn (right), backstage

Kersten McCall and Leonard Slatkin

Happy 50th NFA!

The 50th Anniversary Party celebrated the Golden Anniversary Award winners and past presidents, with music by Nestor Torres and friends and a specially-commissioned piece by James Lee III

50th Anniversary Party

50th Anniversary Party

Nestor Torres and his band

Penny Zent and Chicago Philharmonic Executive Director Terell Johnson

Golden Anniversary Awards performance with conductor George Pope

Program Chair Aaron Goldman makes the 50th Anniversary official, while President Penny Zent looks on

The Golden Anniversary Awards recipients

Kaori Fujii, Katherine Saenger, César Vivanco Sanchez, Cathy Herrera, Luciano Carrera, Marie Jureit-Beamish, Ellen Kaner, and Jammie Phillips. (Not present: Mia Dreese and Celso Woltzenlogel.)

Program Chair Aaron Goldman, Marina Piccinini, and Leonard Slatkin

Cathy Collinge Herrera, Luciano Efren Carrera Galarza, Penny Zent, and Jenny Clarke joined by representatives of the Ecuadorian Embassy