About Us
David Leviston - Director
David Leviston grew up in Melbourne and started playing at age seven. He has studied with many teachers most notably in Australia with Audrey Walklate, Leslie Barklamb, Margaret Crawford, David Cubbin, Colin Evans and Linda Vogt. Overseas he studied with William Bennett, Peter Lloyd, Michel Debost, John Wion, Julius Baker, Sam Baron and James Pellerite.
Abandoning his course in Law at aged 19, he took a position in the ABC Sinfonia in Sydney and then one year later in 1969 moved to Perth to take a position in the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. During 1968 and 1969 David successfully gained his Associate and Licentiate Diplomas in Performance on Flute. During his 9 years in Perth he travelled many times to Europe and the US to study and participate in competitions being the beneficient of an Australia Council grant for that purpose in 1975.
A founding member of the Perth Wind Quintet saw him performing most of the Wind Quintet repertoire in addition to many solo and recital programmes. David spent most of 1979 playing in the Queensland Theatre Orchestra at the invitation of Georg Tintner. For many years thereafter he freelanced in the various orchestras around Australia, taught at several Universities, was an AMEB examiner at all levels and maintained an extensive private teaching practice based in Sydney.
In 1988 David took an opportunity to start a specialty flute business based around supplying some of the world’s leading flutes supported by leading edge servicing. This business, Flute Fidelity quickly became the leading business of its kind in Australia. During these last fifteen years "Flute Fidelity" has presented many concerts and masterclasses for many Australian and overseas visiting artists. This experience has been foundational to David being able to initiate and lead the development of Sydney Flute Festival, now called the Australian Flute Festival.
Elizabeth Koch OAM - Artistic Director
BMus(Hons)(Adel), MMus(Adel), MIMT
Associate Professor and Head of Woodwind, University of Adelaide Elizabeth studied piano with Clemens Leske for her B.Mus Degree, before taking up the flute at the age of twenty with Professor David Cubbin. She graduated with First Class Honours in both flute and piano and was awarded a Master of Music Degree in Flute Performance. Elizabeth was a member of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Principal Flute of the Australian Youth Orchestra and Principal Flute of the Adelaide Chamber Orchestra. She has performed as soloist with several Australian Orchestras and in 2004 performed with renowned pianist Phillip Moll in Adelaide, Darwin and Melbourne.
In 1976 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study with Maxence Larrieu in Paris. She has performed in masterclasses with Jean-Pierre Rampal, Alain Marion, Andras Adorjan, James Galway, Susan Milan and William Bennett.
In 1992 Elizabeth attended International Flute Conventions in London and Paris, inspiring her to direct her own summer schools in Adelaide and Darwin. Elizabeth has been on the staff of many National Music Camps for Youth Music Australia and she will direct her ninth State Music Camp in Adelaide in July 2007.
In 1999 and 2005, Elizabeth took several of her tertiary flute students to participate in masterclasses in London, Paris and Basel. The master teachers were William Bennett, Kirsten Spratt, Michael Cox, Susan Milan, Sophie Cherrier, Philippe Bernold, Felix Renggli and Paul Edmund-Davies. Elizabeth has written about the 2005 experiences and masterclasses in the current Flute Talk issues 2006/2007.
Elizabeth was recently appointed Associate Professor. She continues her passion for teaching, with many of her former students playing and teaching professionally both nationally and internationally. In June 2006, Elizabeth was awarded an OAM for her services to flute music and for the mentoring of young musicians.
Lyndie Leviston - Director/Coordinator
Lyndie began her musical studies on the recorder, studying under Pieter van Dijk and made her debut as a soloist at the age of 13. She studied for her B.Mus (Perf) degree, on the flute, under the guidance of Swiss flutist, Beat Wenger.
In 1996, Lyndie played Sub-Principal flute, doubling piccolo, with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. She was a member of the Viva Musica Quartet, performing regularly at exclusive game parks around South Africa.
After immigrating to New Zealand in 1999, Lyndie became the Vice-President of the New Zealand Recorder Society and the Secretary of the New Zealand Flute Society and was involved in the organization of the Auckland Flute Convention in 2004. She was invited to play First and Second Flute in the Auckland Symphony Orchestra, and formed a flute/piano duo called Tui’s Company, freelancing in and around Auckland.
Lyndie was the resident flute teacher at the Corelli School of the Arts and taught at the Auckland University Academy of Music before immigrating to Australia.
Junior Programme
Peter Bartels
Peter Bartels is widely known and respected as a performer and teacher of the flute. He holds both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree from the University of Melbourne. With the assistance of the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Trust Peter spent four years in Vienna studying with the principal flute of the Vienna Volksoper Orchestra, Hansgeorg Schmeiser. During his time in Vienna he attended masterclasses of Wolfgang Schultz, Robert Aitken, Aurele Nicolet and Alain Marion and performed in Austria and as far afield as Scotland.
His outstanding teaching ability sees him in demand at the University of Melbourne, Monash University and Presbyterian Ladies' College where he teaches the youngest of beginners through to tertiary level students. He frequently conducts masterclasses and workshops and adjudicates competitions both throughout Victoria and interstate. He is a regular guest for the Victorian Flute Guild and the South Australian Flute Society. His entrepreneurial skills initiated the highly successful Melbourne Flute Summer School which has inspired and motivated many flautists.
