Flautist back

Press, 6 February 1982, Page 3

Flautist back

For a woman who could not get “one cent” from musical funding bodies, the Christchurch flautist, Penelope Evison (above), has gone a long way. The young musician, who is home on holiday, has just been invited to take up a lectureship at the Stockholm Royal Conservatory of Music. But Ms Evison is unsure about whether she wants to leave her “home away from home” — Paris. “I moved to France, about five years ago, in order to finish my studies of the baroque, or one-keyed flute,” she said.

Ms Evison decided to stay, and was soon giving concerts throughout Europe, with such ensembles as “Les Arts Florissants,” and “La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roi.”

She now performs as a

soloist in countries as diverse as Sweden and Russia, while finding time to teach baroque flute in Paris and give master-classes in Sweden. In between she gives radio performances and makes records.

The planning of a recent recording sparked off “The search for the acoustic ideal,” she said. “We needed a unique studio, and in the end we found an old church in Normandy, where we recorded some lovely pieces for the flute,” she said.

All five of Ms Evison’s flutes are worth $lOOO each, “but they last, and you just have to put them in your pocket.”

The only thing that her flutes can’t stand is an extreme change in temperature. “They just crack up,” she said.