On December 3, 2022, at 7:30 PM, a performance of “Música En Tus Manos”—a chamber music presentation by Mimi Stillman and the Dolce Suono ensemble (DSE) takes place at Teatro Esperanza. The performance will feature chamber music arrangements of various Latino composers including AMLA’s very own Daniel de Jesus’ world premiere.
The musicians playing will be Mimi Stillman, flute; Celina Velez, violin; Gabriel Cabezas, cello; Charles Abramovic, piano; and Gabriel Globus‐Hoenich, percussion. A very exciting part of this performance will be when Ms. Stillman and DSE will play side‐by‐side performances with the students and the teachers from Esperanza Academy and AMLA. It will be a significant moment for the children to see their teachers play their instruments alongside of DSE.
Mimi Stillman is its founding Artistic Director and flutist. The New York Times has this to say about Ms. Stillman: “Her programs tend to activate ear, heart, and brain.” The Huffington Post calls Dolce Suono “One of the most dynamic groups in the US.” The Diario de Yucatán praised her for “her exquisite purity of sound and depth of emotion”. For the December 3rd performance at El Teatro, DSE and Ms. Stillman are excited about the fact that they will be playing music from Puerto Rico, working closely with AMLA, and incorporating boleros from other Latin American influences. They do their own arranging. She is looking forward to presenting these pieces to the community members of Esperanza along with the students and their families that they work with who are from Puerto Rico. One of DSE’s goals is to impart their love of music and how there are many ways to present it and to play it.
Ms. Stillman’s early start as a child prodigy playing the flute has garnered her much praise, rewards, and an ability to perform in an array of prestigious world stages and in front of audiences one can only dream of. She also arranges and teaches music. Ms. Stillman’s parents are also musicians and her own mother taught her how to play the recorder and how to read music at age 6. At the age of 12, Ms. Stillman was drawn to the flute as her instrument of choice. She was the youngest wind player ever to be admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was able to study with legendary flutists Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner. She gives her parents credit for how they left their teaching positions at Harvard University in Boston behind to move to Philadelphia once she was accepted by the renowned Curtis Institute of Music. From that point on, her life took on a trajectory that she is still so grateful for. She is also grateful for the influence that Jules Baker was in her life, having been his student.
The goal of DSE is to enrich people’s lives with chamber music. It has a core group of musicians performing and presenting chamber music concerts on its “Dolce Suono Ensemble Presents” series in Philadelphia, performing touring engagements, recording, and engaging communities through outreach initiatives. One of these initiatives is something dubbed “Música En Tus Manos” (“Music in Your Hands). It is a project that DSE has with the Latino community of Philadelphia and outreach partnerships with Philadelphia public schools and educational programs. About the musicians she performs with, she has this to say, “We have such a friendship. We are all graduates from Curtis from different times. We are good friends who enjoy exploring ways to arrange music and share it.”
Ms. Stillman shares this about her life: “I love what I do‐‐‐a mix of being a soloist along with an ensemble. I love to teach. I have a studio at Temple University where I teach young girls how to play the flute and read music. I love playing audiences. Meeting people through music everywhere I go is so inspiring.” Ms. Stillman has received several awards from competitions she entered including the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Astral Artists Auditions, and the Philadelphia Women in the Arts Award. She carries the honor of being a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician and has taught master classes and done residencies for universities throughout the United States and internationally. She is on faculty at Temple University and Music for All National Festival.
This past May 2022, she experienced something that she considers a complete honor and delight. Grammy‐nominated composer Zhou Tian held a world premiered Concerto for Flute and Orchestra that was specifically written for her. Not only that‐‐‐‐ the Marine Chamber Orchestra of “The President’s Own” Marine Band with Director Col. Jason K. Fettig performed it. The work was commissioned with a consortium of seven American orchestras, with which she will perform the concerto over the next two seasons.
Describing Ms. Stillman as a phenomenal, legendary artist in her own right is an understatement. But what is most telling about listening to her share her enthusiasm for playing to audiences and teaching music to children is how she seems to want to be that spark in a child who hears chamber music for the first time and is inspired to follow their heart just as she did at age 6 when the flute became an extension of her own voice. She shares “a magical moment” she experienced when she was on tour in La Jolla, California and a little boy raised his hand and asked her to play a Mozart piece again. “In that moment, I felt the power in music and feel very devoted to make that happen again.”
