Biography
Abigail Sperling (DMA) is a performing artist in flute, pedagogue, and clinician based in Oregon, USA. She is the Professor of Flute at Linfield College in McMinnville and the area Coordinator for Winds & Percussion and Instructor of Flute at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, OR. She is currently the guest lecturer in Flute At Oregon State University. In addition to individual lessons, Abigail also coaches chamber groups, leads sectionals for the Linfield Band, and teaches flute ensemble. She has taught several classes including Woodwind Chamber Music (MUSC 115), Flute Methodology (MUS 223), Audition Skills (MUS 323), American Sense in Sound (MUSC 251), Performance Seminars, and has supervised work of Performance Master’s students. Abigail is a well-known as a performer of contemporary music, in particular works by New Zealand composers. A concerto performance with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra on November 25th 2018 saw the world premiere of Alex Taylor’s Flute Concerto, commissioned in 2016 with support from Creative New Zealand. Abigail often features in Oregon State University’s concert series Music a la Carte, and as part of the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival. She is a substitute player with Oregon Symphony, the Corvallis/OSU Symphony, and a regular recitalist across Oregon.
As a pedagogue, Abigail focuses on helping each student discover their own unique musical voice, and teaches to international standards university degree requirements. With sister Edie Sperling (Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Western Oregon University of Health Sciences) Abigail researches and teaches body alignment techniques to help players achieve their best possible sound. Community-minded, Abigail is a Secretary of the Greater Portland Flute Society and a reviewer for the National Flute Association journal, The Flutist Quarterly. She is on the board of the "Oral Histories" committee of the NFA, and is actively involved in interviewing flute makers and players to contribute to the NFA Archives at the Library of Congress.
With wide-ranging academic interests, Abigail has written about interpretation and performance aesthetics, in particular whether, how, and how much to apply historical practices on a modern instrument. The National Flute Association magazine, The Flutist Quarterly recently published an article she wrote entitled, “The French (Flute) Revolution: Claude Laurent’s Glass Flutes” (summer 2018). Abigail has been a featured presenter at the National Flute Association Convention (2015/16/17/18), the Greater Portland Flute Society Flute Fair (2017/18), the Historical Performance Institute at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (2017), the Performer Studies Network Conference (2016), and at the Australian Flute Festival (2015). She has been awarded the Chemeketa Community College Part-Time Faculty Award to support conference and convention attendance (2016/17/18). She is a 2019 Oregon Arts Commission Fellow, the result of which will be a new work for flute and piano from Oregon composer Andrea Reinkemeyer. This new work is the first in a project commissioning five new works for flute from female composers 2019–2023.
Abigail received her doctorate in 2016 from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, studying with Professor Uwe Grodd. During her graduate work Abigail had intensive lessons and masterclass performances with William Bennett, Robert Aitken, Denis Bouriakov, Luisa Sello, Emily Beynon, Lisa-Maree Amos, and Sami Junnonen. She performed the New Zealand premiere of K. Penderecki’s Concerto per Flauto (1993) and her final doctoral recital was live-streamed via youtube. In addition to the University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship (2014), Abigail received Les & Sonia Andrews Woodwind Prize (2010), the Reardon Post-Graduate Scholarship in Music (2012), and was awarded the Vice-Chancellor Arts Support Award (2013/14/15). As a member of the trio ETACETI, Robert Drage (cello), Liam Wooding (piano), and Abigail were first place winners of the University of Auckland Chamber Music Competition and were Pettman/ROSL Arts National Chamber Music finalists (2012). Abigail has commissioned work from New Zealand composers Eve de Castro-Robinson, Alex Taylor, Michael Norris, and John Elmsly, and has been awarded grants from New Zealand funding agencies Creative New Zealand and the Todd Family Trust.
As a pedagogue, Abigail focuses on helping each student discover their own unique musical voice, and teaches to international standards university degree requirements. With sister Edie Sperling (Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Western Oregon University of Health Sciences) Abigail researches and teaches body alignment techniques to help players achieve their best possible sound. Community-minded, Abigail is a Secretary of the Greater Portland Flute Society and a reviewer for the National Flute Association journal, The Flutist Quarterly. She is on the board of the "Oral Histories" committee of the NFA, and is actively involved in interviewing flute makers and players to contribute to the NFA Archives at the Library of Congress.
With wide-ranging academic interests, Abigail has written about interpretation and performance aesthetics, in particular whether, how, and how much to apply historical practices on a modern instrument. The National Flute Association magazine, The Flutist Quarterly recently published an article she wrote entitled, “The French (Flute) Revolution: Claude Laurent’s Glass Flutes” (summer 2018). Abigail has been a featured presenter at the National Flute Association Convention (2015/16/17/18), the Greater Portland Flute Society Flute Fair (2017/18), the Historical Performance Institute at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (2017), the Performer Studies Network Conference (2016), and at the Australian Flute Festival (2015). She has been awarded the Chemeketa Community College Part-Time Faculty Award to support conference and convention attendance (2016/17/18). She is a 2019 Oregon Arts Commission Fellow, the result of which will be a new work for flute and piano from Oregon composer Andrea Reinkemeyer. This new work is the first in a project commissioning five new works for flute from female composers 2019–2023.
Abigail received her doctorate in 2016 from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, studying with Professor Uwe Grodd. During her graduate work Abigail had intensive lessons and masterclass performances with William Bennett, Robert Aitken, Denis Bouriakov, Luisa Sello, Emily Beynon, Lisa-Maree Amos, and Sami Junnonen. She performed the New Zealand premiere of K. Penderecki’s Concerto per Flauto (1993) and her final doctoral recital was live-streamed via youtube. In addition to the University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship (2014), Abigail received Les & Sonia Andrews Woodwind Prize (2010), the Reardon Post-Graduate Scholarship in Music (2012), and was awarded the Vice-Chancellor Arts Support Award (2013/14/15). As a member of the trio ETACETI, Robert Drage (cello), Liam Wooding (piano), and Abigail were first place winners of the University of Auckland Chamber Music Competition and were Pettman/ROSL Arts National Chamber Music finalists (2012). Abigail has commissioned work from New Zealand composers Eve de Castro-Robinson, Alex Taylor, Michael Norris, and John Elmsly, and has been awarded grants from New Zealand funding agencies Creative New Zealand and the Todd Family Trust.