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SUSAN BERDAHL, flutist, pedagogue, and scholar, is currently the
Associate Professor of Flute and Musicology at Texas A & M International
University, Laredo, Texas. To her credit she is also author of the
three volume The First Hundred Years of the Boehm Flute in the United
States, 1845-1945: A biographical Dictionary of American Boehm Flutemakers
for her doctoral dissertation in musicology from the University
of Minnesota. She is a frequent contributor of articles to various
journals. In 1992, her work in the expanded edition of Leonardo
de Lorenzo’s My Complete Story of the Flute (Texas Tech University
Press and the National Flute Association, 1992) has been another
significant contribution to the historical body of flute literature.
As a flutist, she has toured several continents performing recitals
at the Moscow State Conservatory, in Russia, as well as concerts
in Northern Mexico under the auspices of the USIS, in addition to
her appearances at the conventions of the National Flute Association.
A versatile flutist she has also performed with the Minnesota Orchestra,
the Minnesota Opera, American Ballet Theatre, and the Arkansas Symphony.
In 1991, Dr. Berdahl was the honored recipient of the National Endowment
of the Humanities Fellowship for her work with Latin American flute
music and in 1992 she toured South Texas as a “Circuit Rider
Professional” presenting lecture/demonstrations of “Music
of the New World at the time of Columbus.” For more than two
years she worked in Tegucigalpa, Honduras as a Fulbright Flute Specialist
training performers and teachers of that nations principal musical
institutions, namely the National Symphony and the National School
of Music. In 2002 the National School invited her to return to direct
a formal 2-week flute festival open to all the Honduran flutists.
The idea expanded and she was summoned again in 2004 to direct the
Central American Flute Encounter held in Honduras.
Enjoying the cross-cultural environment of her new position as Associate
Professor in Laredo, Dr. Berdahl pursues her developmental work
within the international spectrum by assisting with the on-going
establishment of music degrees and the flute program at the new
international university situated on the USA/Mexico border in Laredo,
Texas A & M International University. This unique university
receives foreign students, and has faculty representation from over
35 countries. Her astute contributions and effort maintain the close
ties to flutists and flute-related events in Mexico and Latin America.
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