Bio

“Mimi Stillman is not only a consummate and charismatic performer, but also a scholar. Her programs tend to activate, ear, heart, and brain.”

– The New York Times

Flutist Mimi Stillman is an internationally acclaimed solo, chamber, and recording artist hailed by the New York Times as “not only a consummate and charismatic performer, but also a scholar. Her programs tend to activate ear, heart, and brain.” Praised for her “exquisite purity of sound and depth of emotion” (Diario de Yucatán), she has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras and chamber musician at prestigious venues throughout the United States and internationally. Renowned for her virtuosity, insightful interpretation, and adventurous programming, she has appeared as soloist with orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Marine Chamber Orchestra of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Annapolis Chamber Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Bach Collegium Stuttgart, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Yucatán; and at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Symphony Space, Philadelphia Museum of Art, National Sawdust, Roulette, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, La Jolla Music Society, Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Kol HaMusica (Israel), and on Curtis On Tour’s virtual Latin American tour in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. 

Stillman is the founding Artistic Director of the celebrated Dolce Suono Ensemble (DSE), performing Baroque to new music in Philadelphia and on tour, in programs with high intellectual content setting music in its broadest cultural context. Some of DSE’s outstanding projects include Mahler 100/Schoenberg 60; Women Pioneers of American Music; and A Place and a Name: Remembering the Holocaust. “All programs should have this much to say, and say it so well.” (Philadelphia Inquirer). A Spanish speaker, Stillman created DSE’s award-winning Música en tus Manos (Music in Your Hands) project to engage Philadelphia’s Latino communities in the chamber and popular music of Latin America. DSE has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, William Penn Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and other prestigious institutions, and enjoys a partnership with the Washington National Opera at the invitation of Plácido Domingo. 

A leader in the new music field contributing important new works to the repertoire, Stillman has given 68 world premières in 19 seasons with Dolce Suono Ensemble. “Dolce Suono Ensemble eloquently advocates for new music.” (New York Times). She premiered and performed Zhou Tian’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, written for her and commissioned by a consortium of seven American orchestras, a heralded work that is fast becoming part of the flute repertoire. “The concerto was a real showpiece for Mimi Stillman, who soared effortlessly through its wide-ranging melodies, runs and trills. . . and played with mesmerizing artistry in the slow movement, “Arioso,”offering a breathtaking display of arpeggios and communicating with beautiful tone.” (Cincinnati Business Courier)

A multifaceted artist, Stillman is equally at home with the classical canon and contemporary and Latin music. She has collaborated with artists in a diverse range of genres, including Eric Owens, Paquito D’Rivera, Ricardo Morales, Eliot Fisk, and Lucy Shelton, and recorded a film score for Kevin Bacon. Orchestrally, she has played under conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Robert Spano, and Andre Previn. She has recorded several highly praised albums including “Odyssey: 11 American Premières for Flute and Piano” and “Freedom”, both with her duo pianist Charles Abramovic, and “American Canvas”, with Dolce Suono Trio (Stillman, flute, Abramovic, piano, Cabezas, cello) (Innova).

 With a strong commitment to education, Mimi Stillman, a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician, has taught masterclasses and done residencies for universities and flute societies throughout the United States, including Florida, Texas, California, Virginia, New York, Indiana, Eastman School of Music, the National Flute Association, and internationally, including at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), École Normale de Musique de Paris, Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Chile), and conservatories in Milan, Puerto Rico, Buenos Aires, and Bogotá. Stillman’s artistic diversity makes a unique mark on the music world—winning the Bärenreiter Prize for Best Historical Performance, engaging underserved communities, and reaching a global audience as a bilingual masterclass teacher and media host. She is the host of “Tea with Mimi,” her popular livestream series.

Mimi Stillman made the leap from child prodigy to inimitable artist, composer, arranger, educator, and scholar. At age 12, she was the youngest wind player ever admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with the legendary Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner and earned her Bachelor of Music degree. She was the youngest flutist to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and Astral Artists. She holds a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania, and has written on music and history for publications including the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World and the Journal of the Mozart Society of America. Her lifelong passion for Claude Debussy led to her MA thesis on the influence of Asian music on the composer, Syrinx Journey, her video project featuring daily performances of Debussy's Syrinx, which garnered an international following, and Nuits d’Étoiles: 8 Early Songs, her award-winning book of arrangements of Debussy’s songs (Theodore Presser). Stillman is artist-in-residence on faculty at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance.
www.mimistillman.com

www.dolcesuono.com

SHORT BIO

Flutist Mimi Stillman is an internationally acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, teacher, recording artist, media host, and founding Artistic Director of Dolce Suono Ensemble, her chamber music ensemble which has given 67 world premieres in 19 seasons. Praised by The New York Times as "not only a consummate and charismatic performer, but also a scholar whose programs tend to activate ear, heart, and brain," she is renowned for her virtuosity, insightful interpretation, and adventurous programming. She has performed as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Marine Chamber Orchestra of the "The President's Own" US Marine Band, Orquesta Sinfónica de Yucatán, recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Verbier Festival (Switzerland), and taught masterclasses for the National Flute Association, Eastman School of Music, École Normale de Musique de Paris, universities and conservatories throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Her concerts and recordings are broadcast globally, and she is the host of the popular "Tea with Mimi" livestream show. Ms Stillman is a published author on music and history, a composer and arranger, and a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with the legendary Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner, and a Master's Degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania. She is artist-in-residence on faculty at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance.