LAURIE SOKOLOFF

My family is very musical and I can't remember a time when beautiful music wasn't playing somewhere in our home. Both my parents were pianists and teachers at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. My father accompanied many great vocal and instrumental soloists. They would all come to our house to rehearse with him, and it was fascinating and wonderful to hear so many different instruments played so beautifully. My mother, who is considered one of the greatest piano teachers in the world, has always been an inspiration to me. She still teaches a full schedule - and will be 83 years old this summer! When I was growing up in the 1950s, it was unusual to have a mother who worked, let alone one who had such a successful career. I probably didn't realize it at the time, but the example she set made it much easier for me to work at and develop my own career.

For a few years while I was in elementary school I studied the piano, then in the sixth grade I switched to the flute. My parents recognized that I really wanted to play well, but had difficulty practicing. They hired music students to practice with me a couple of days a week during my first two years of study. This taught me the discipline of practicing - and how to most effectively structure my time. These are invaluable skills that I still use as a very important part of my job and everyday life.

The accelerated middle school that I attended allowed me to complete the seventh and eighth grades in one year. High school was extremely frustrating for me because it was very difficult to find enough time to practice. In my sophomore year I auditioned for the Curtis Institute of Music and was accepted. I knew that Curtis had a special tutoring department for students who were still in school. It was a perfect schedule. All academic and music classes were scheduled in the afternoon, so that mornings could be spent practicing. I studied flute with the great flutist and teacher, William Kincaid. Two of those summers I studied with the French flutist, Marcel Moyse. I was fortunate to have teachers from both the American and European schools of flute playing, which then were quite different. I completed my remaining two years of high school while taking college and music courses at Curtis, and graduated at eighteen.

At that time in Philadelphia there were two opera companies and one ballet company that needed a piccolo player. None of the other flutists in Philadelphia at that time were interested in playing the piccolo...but I was! My first flute teacher was John Krell, then the piccoloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. I always loved hearing him perform with the orchestra. He truly made the piccolo sound like an extension of the flute, the ultimate challenge for any piccolo player. I loved playing the piccolo from the start and enjoyed being heard over the rest of the orchestra. Since I am quite petite, and the flute takes a great deal of air, my somewhat small lungs made playing it quite challenging at times. But the piccolo uses less air than the flute, so it was perfect for me.

For three years I've worked with the National Flute Association as chairperson of the Piccolo Committee. Last year I helped raise the necessary funds to pay for the commissioning of a new Concerto for the Piccolo, by composer Lowell Liebermann. It's a wonderful piece, and there is a great feeling associated with having helped with such a worthwhile project. Sometimes when I listen to the Concerto, I realize that this piece of music will probably be played for hundreds of years...and it gives me goose bumps! I will be performing this concerto with the Baltimore Symphony in January of 1998.

To hear Laurie performing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra click here:

(RealAudio files at 14.4 and 28.8 speeds.