The Walleye Magazine

TBSO PROFILE

Principal Flute

By Kris Ketonen

Birthplace: Port Perry, Ontario

Instrument: Flute

Age you started to study music: Piano at age 8, flute at 14

How long have you been with TBSO: Since October 2022

What’s on your personal playlist: Usually listens to the music she’s currently working on for the TBSO

Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra principal flute Sarah Pollard calls her job with the local organization a “dream come true.”

“It’s a very welcoming and supportive community,” Pollard says. “I’m always inspired by my colleagues. Having recently completed my graduate studies in flute performance in the spring of 2022 at The Glenn Gould School, I feel very fortunate to have been offered this position.”

Pollard says she was always interested in learning music, stretching back to her childhood, and flute was at the top of the list of instruments she wanted to play. Although she began on piano at age eight, she got her first chance to pick up a flute in her school music program. “I just loved it,” she says.

Pollard, of course, stuck with the flute, enrolling in lessons at age 14, and then continuing her study of the instrument through university. Pollard joined the TBSO as principal flute in October, and brings a wealth of orchestral experience to the role: she’s performed with a number of other ensembles, including the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, The Orchestra of the Americas, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra.

And when it comes to choosing flute over the piano, Pollard certainly has no regrets. “I chose to pursue the flute over the piano because playing in ensembles made me feel happier and more fulfilled than anything else I had ever pursued,” she says. “Playing in ensembles is when I feel like I’m the most in my element. It feels like it’s where I’m meant to be.”

For more information about Pollard, visit sarahpollardflute.com.

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2023-03-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

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