Danielle (Dani) Stevens Nutting (BM ’14) has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct her dissertation research on the classical flute tradition in Bulgaria. Dani will live in Sofia during the 2019-20 academic year, study with leading Bulgarian flutist-pedagogue Lydia Oshavkova, and conduct ethnographic research with flutists and musicians throughout the country. Her project, “Exploring Artistry: Epistemologies of Flute Performance and Pedagogy in Bulgaria,” aims to understand the multidimensional life of the flute in Bulgaria from its incorporation into local music-making in the late 19th century to its role in the contemporary art music scene, with special attention to the importation of west European flute schools (particularly French and German) and the performance practice of the Bulgarian kaval (a keyless wooden shepherd’s flute). An avid performer-researcher, Dani seeks a novel fusion of classical performance and pedagogy with ethnomusicological theory and methodology and is hopeful that her scholarship will not only encourage similar interdisciplinary endeavors in both performance and musicology but will highlight the diversity of classical music expression in our world.
Following her BM in flute performance at Texas State under the supervision of Dr. Adah Jones, Dani earned a performance MM (’16) from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is now a doctoral candidate in Flute Performance & Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the supervision of Drs. Jonathan Keeble (flute) and Donna Buchanan (ethnomusicology, Balkan studies). Dani has performed with the National Repertory Orchestra (Breckenridge, CO), Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and Sinfonia da Camera (Champaign-Urbana, IL), and is a two-time quarter-finalist of the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition, second-place winner of the NFA Orchestral Audition Masterclass Competition, and winner of NFA’s Piccolo Masterclass Competition. She also enjoys playing the Bulgarian kaval and svirka, as well as singing and playing percussion, with the University of Illinois Balkan ensemble, Balkanalia. A passionate educator, Dani has held both music education and flute teaching assistantships in Cincinnati and Illinois, respectively, and maintains an active private studio in the Champaign-Urbana area. Long term, Dani seeks an interdisciplinary and multi-faceted career as a performer, teacher, and researcher.