Assistant Professor of Flute, Kansas State University
Principal Flute, Chamber Orchestra of the Smoky Valley
Executive Director, Scheherazade Music Festival
Silver Custom, .018, Drawn Toneholes, 14k P-Cut Headjoint
Dr. Colleen White is Assistant Professor of Flute at Kansas State University, Principal Flute with the Chamber Orchestra of the Smoky Valley, and Executive Director of Scheherazade Music Festival. Before her appointment at K-State, she held faculty positions in flute, chamber music, and entrepreneurship at Colorado State University, the Metropolitan State University of Denver, and the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. White performs in a wide variety of solo, orchestral, and chamber music settings across North America, including performances with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, as a soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and at Carnegie Hall.
An energetic teacher, Dr. White has presented workshops, performances, and masterclasses at UT-Arlington, UMass-Amherst, UW-Madison, Texas A&M-Commerce, CU Boulder, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Texas Christian University, Wichita State, Charleston Southern University, and Tennessee Tech. University. She has adjudicated for the NFA Young Artist Competition, the Myrna Brown Artist Competition, and the international Music & Stars Awards. She has performed and presented at the National Flute Association Convention, flute fairs across the U.S., and abroad.
As an Arts Administrator, Dr. White has developed and coordinated performance events featuring Grammy Award Winners, MacArthur Fellows, and Guggenheim Fellows, with audiences of up to 2,000. She has served as Chamber Coordinator for the Spoleto Festival USA, Registrar for Rensselaerville’s Festival of Writers, House Manager for Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Vice President of the Kansas Flute Society, and President of the Colorado Flute Association. As a grant-writer, she has earned over $32k in funding for independently-developed arts and educational projects. In 2017, she was a recipient of the Boedecker Path to Excellence grant to present a series of performance workshops on music for flute, trumpet, cello, and band with electronics. She has self-produced two albums: Electroacoustic Music for Flute (2017) and The Bach Flute Sonatas Revisited, Vol. 1 (2022). She currently serves as Chair of the National Flute Association's Career and Artistic Development Committee.
In addition to Chamber Music seminar study with the Imani Winds, her influential teachers and mentors include Christina Jennings, Brook Ferguson, Janet Arms, Dawn Lawler, Carol Meves, Jeffrey Nytch, Michelle Stanley, and Stephanie Jutt. She earned degrees from the University of Colorado Boulder (DMA), The Hartt School (MM), and the University of Wisconsin Madison (BM).
She has been an Artist in Residence for Off the Hook Arts (Fort Collins, CO) and the Atlantic Music Festival (Maine) and performed as principal flute in recent seasons with the Wichita Grand Opera orchestra, Boulder Bach Festival, and Colorado MahlerFest. Since winning top awards in various concerto and young artist competitions, she was named a semifinalist in the prestigious Myrna Brown Artist Competition and can be heard in solo and orchestral performances on Kansas Public Radio, Wyoming Public Radio and KGNU Boulder Radio. In 2019, Dr. White made her first solo appearance at Carnegie Hall.