I began my career in flutemaking at the von Huene workshop in 2016, working for Patrick von Huene to make and repair both baroque recorders and flutes after original 17th and 18th century models. Since 2020, I have started to make my own instruments as well, focusing on the baroque flute and its variants. I have been a serious flute player since I was 10 years old, and the baroque flute is currently my primary instrument. I studied art history at Umass Amherst from 2016 to 2020.

Von Huene’s meticulous process for making these instruments has influenced my own way of working greatly, shaping my values and concerns regarding the finished result. The methodology I wish to work towards in my own work is a version of von Huene’s, adapted to serve my own needs as a maker. Experiencing von Huene’s way of making, as well as interacting with countless flutes from dozens of different makers, has allowed me to notice elements of design that I wish to carry over into my own work, as well as ones I wish to change. As a maker, I am concerned with the aesthetics of the act of flutemaking as much as the finished instrument. By emphasizing materials that are pleasant to work with, and a flexible approach to construction, I can create a process that feels efficient, smooth and joyful.

My respect and appreciation for the work of Friedrich and Patrick von Huene and the other contemporary makers I’ve learned from - as well as the woodwind makers of the 17th and 18th centuries - is profound, but no element of the process (or result) is sacred. I view the legacies of both eras not as models to copy or emulate, but as examples to learn from. Though copies of historical instruments are currently ‘what sells,’ and I sympathize with the collectors and musicians who wish to feel as if they are playing something ‘exactly like’ a surviving original, this approach is not highest aspiration of baroque flutemaking. The most sophisticated expression of our work is not to exactly copy, but for us to make our own originals. In any era, be it the 1750s or the 1950s, this is something that the best makers understood. This kind of work fulfills the true definition of authenticity, a word often used in conjunction with copies but, by definition, one which will never fully describe them. By conversing intelligently with examples from the past, we can develop and eventually express a unique, personal perspective on the nature of this work.