Flutist's ensemble honors 2 anniversaries

BY AGE 5, Mimi Stillman could read music and play the recorder. By 6, she had moved on to the flute. "I had fallen in love with the sound of the flute from being taken to concerts, listening to recordings at home, and spending time at my brother Alex's youth orchestra rehearsals," Stillman said.

At 12, her family moved from Boston to Philadelphia, where she became the youngest wind-player ever accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music. Not yet a teenager, she was already working on a bachelor's degree in music.

Since that early start, Stillman has become an internationally acclaimed flutist, performing at the Kimmel Center, Washington's Kennedy Center, and New York's Carnegie Hall in New York.

In 2005, she founded the Dolce Suono Ensemble, a Philadelphia-based chamber music ensemble.

The ensemble helps Stillman remain connected to the city. "I founded Dolce Suono in 2005 to make music with my friends, many of whom are fellow graduates of the Curtis Institute of Music," Stillman said. "I love touring as a soloist and chamber musician because I get to perform for new audiences, but I also love building ever closer ties with my hometown audiences."

Dolce Suono provides Stillman several different opportunities to marry her passion for classical music with her love for the city. The group works with several Philadelphia public schools, performing concerts for students. Stillman also teaches master classes at local universities.

Dolce Suono tours nationally, but is back in Philadelphia this weekend to present its "Mahler 100/Schoenberg 60" project. The two-year project commemorates the centennial and 60th anniversary of the deaths of composers Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg, respectively.

" 'Mahler 100/Schoenberg 60' is our most ambitious and comprehensive project since I founded DSE," Stillman said. The performance includes guest soloist soprano Lucy Shelton, who will perform Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire, which is also celebrating its centennial. The event also features the world premiere of DSE's composer-in-residence Shulamit Ran's "Moon Songs: A Song Cycle in Four Acts for Soprano, Flute, Cello, and Piano," which was commissioned by the ensemble.