Carrie (Ellis) Matheny is a flutist and piccoloist recognized for her attention to detail, musical expression, and technical precision.
Carrie Matheny has performed a wide variety of repertoire in a wide variety of settings. While studying at the University of Louisville, she served as principal flute in the University Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble; She also regularly performed with in the woodwind quintet WOO and frequently premiered new music in unique chamber settings, including the world premiere of contemporary piece “Red Chocolate is the Breath of Fall” (Cambron Little) conducted by Louisville Orchestra director Teddy Abrams in 2014--a performance featured in PBS documentary series “Music Makes a City.” She has appeared as an ensemble member and soloist in the Daytona Solisti Chamber Orchestra, Palm Coast Chamber Orchestra, Advocate Brass Band, Daytona State College and Community Flute Choir, and Southern Winds Wind Symphony. With these ensembles, she has performed throughout the US at the 2015 WASBE conference in San Jose, CA, and at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, KY, and internationally in Interlaken, Switzerland and San Jose, Costa Rica.
Carrie Matheny has also performed as a pit orchestra musician for numerous theatrical productions, including The Music Man, The Drowsy Chaperone, and the Lexington Children’s Theatre’s productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Annie, and Seussical. In 2014, she was principal flute for Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” a collaborative production between the University of Louisville School of Music’s Opera Theatre, Poland’s Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, and the Czech Republic’s Janacek Conservatory in Ostrava.
A passionate teacher, Carrie Matheny has taught flute students of all ages and backgrounds; lessons are dynamic and are tailored to each student. She aims to create an environment where students not only gain the technical skills necessary to become a successful flutist, but they also learn to find their own voice as an artist and human being. Students in the Matheny Flute Studio her students have gained valuable life skills such as critical thinking, a mind toward service, and confidence. They have participated in all-district and all-regional bands, become leaders in their school band and orchestra programs, and have gone on to participate in music in college; adult students enjoy exercising their creative skills, participating in community ensembles, performing with others, and gaining confidence as a flute player.
A proponent of cross-collaboration, Carrie Matheny strives to connect with other artists to create multi-dimensional works that promote unity between performers and audiences. Past projects have included collaboration with media artists, painters, actors, and dancers, and recent collaboration has included performance with the Volusia Circus Academy aerialists for their Spring Showcase.
Carrie Matheny currently resides in Lexington, Kentucky, and is pursuing a MM degree in flute performance at the University of Kentucky where she studies flute with Dr. Julie Hobbs. She also holds degrees in Music and Communication from the University of Louisville where she studied flute with Kathleen Karr.
