Amanda Pond enjoys an active career as a flutist and teacher. As an orchestral flutist, she currently performs with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Heartland Festival Orchestra, Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, Danville Symphony Orchestra, and Sugar Creek Opera Festival.
As an early music specialist, Amanda has performed as a frequent soloist with the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana. On Baroque flute, she has been a soloist with Concerto Urbano, and recently performed with Bach Society Houston. Amanda can also be heard frequently as a chamber musician with duo partner and harpist Julia Jamieson, and in a variety of ensembles in Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s Around the Town series.
Most recently, Amanda performed Phoenix Rising for solo alto flute and c flute, composed by Stacy Garrop, as part of Stacy’s residency with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony. The performance and Stacy’s residency is sponsored by New Music America, in conjunction with the League of American Orchestras.
In Fall 2018, Amanda began as Adjunct Instructor or Flute at Millikin University, where she teaches applied flute, flute choir, and flute methods. Previously, she has enjoyed teaching students of all ages in her private studio, and at the Conservatory of Central Illinois. Amanda recently held a Baroque flute masterclass at McKendree University and regularly gives Baroque flute presentations at the University of Illinois.
Amanda received both her B.M. and M.M. in Flute Performance at the University of Illinois, where she studied with Alexander Murray. She also studied at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, where she was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship and the Graduate Woodwind Quintet Fellowship. While in graduate school, she won second place at the National Flute Association’s annual Orchestral Audition Competition.