Amy Porter

Flutist Amy Porter is known worldwide for her rich tone, expressive depth and commanding technique, and she is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, author and innovator. She has also become one of the most creative muses for today's composers, and new works keep being written for her. On April 13, 2027, she gives the premiere of John Mackey's Flute Concerto with the University of Michigan Symphony Band.

As a soloist she has appeared with the Buffalo Philharmonic, including an October 2022 performance at Carnegie Hall for Lukas Foss's centennial. She has also played with the Toledo Symphony and the Evergreen Philharmonic, and she is closely associated with Michael Daugherty's flute concerto Trail of Tears, which she has performed many times. She has been heard in recital on NPR and on PBS's Live From Lincoln Center. She won both the Kobe International Flute Competition and the Paris/Ville d'Avray International Flute Competition, and she has since served on international juries, including at Kobe.

The New York Times praised her "gleaming, lyrical reading" of Bach's Cello Suites on In Translation (Equilibrium). Her recordings range from Telemann's fantasias to new American works by David Sampson and Nina Shekhar. She is a founding member of Trio Virado, with violist Jaime Amador and guitarist João Luiz, which has toured the United States, Europe and Asia. American Record Guide called the trio's playing "unfailingly strong, expressive, and imaginative," and its new album, Trialogue on Centaur Records (released January 1, 2027), features music by Assad, Milhaud, Ravel, Piazzolla, Luiz and Sampson. She is a former member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and is Principal Flute of the Brevard Music Center.

Porter is Chair of the Department of Winds and Percussion at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where she has taught since 1996 and received the Henry Russel Award. Her students have gone on to win major professional orchestra positions. Her book, Anatomy of Sound: An Invitation to Discover the Inner Musician, sets out a whole-body approach to sound production. The approach is also the basis of the AOS Workshop, which she has led with Laura Dwyer for 20 years. It is now online at AOSWorkshop.com, with courses in breathing, movement, yoga and meditation for musicians. She also hosts the PorterFlute Pod podcast, now past 100 episodes. As founder of VoiceBox 3-D LLC, she designed My Breathing Buddy, a hands-on model of the lungs, ribcage and diaphragm used in teaching.

Porter was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She graduated from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Samuel Baron and Jeanne Baxtresser, and continued her studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She plays a 14K white gold Haynes flute with rose gold engraved keys.