MASNO is pleased to expand Le Petit Salon Series to the Northshore with two performances featuring Robin Williams, piano, and Elaine Brown, flute.
The first performance will be Friday, January 26, 6:00 PM, and the second will be Saturday, January 27, 4:00 PM. The location and program will be the same for both performances.
Ticket purchases are for each individual performance and include the hour long concert and reception following. Please be mindful of which date/performance you are selecting when purchasing your tickets.
Program details to come soon!
About the Artists
Kansas City native, Robin Holtz Williams is former Chair of the Department of Music at The University of New Orleans and past member of the Board of Directors of the Musical Arts Society of New Orleans (MASNO). Dr. Williams earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and then studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where she earned Master and Doctorate degrees in Piano Performance. Since joining the UNO faculty in 1990, she has been active as a performer and adjudicator.
Dr. Williams’ creative focus in recent years has been on her CD series, A Piano in the House of which there are three with these subtitles, Music for Hearth and Home, Signs of Spring, and On a Winter’s Eve. The CDs feature famous pieces by well-known composers, and also works by composers whose names are now forgotten and whose compositions sometimes are no longer in print. In addition to airing on WWNO radio 89.9 in New Orleans, they can be heard on Pandora Internet Radio and several streaming sources including iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Calm Radio, Apple Music and Amazon. As a continuation of bringing peaceful classical music to a wider audience, since 2019, she has played classical piano on Fridays in the lobby of St. Tammany Hospital as a volunteer in their Healing Arts program.
Elaine K. Brown, Artist Adjunct Flute Instructor - Department of Performing Arts
In 1971, I celebrated my first wedding anniversary as one of the chaperones for high schoolers on a YMCA ski trip in beautiful Winter Park CO. I remember noticing in the ski lodge a rather athletic teenager draped across an armchair in a red plaid jacket and khaki pants, yes, Robin Holtz (Williams). At the time I did not know she was also an aspiring musician. Several years later I ran into Robin again, only this time we were both music teachers at the Toon Shop in Prairie Village, KS. Thus, our over 50-year association began. In Kansas City we collaborated on recitals, weddings and receptions. Over the years we have remained in contact, and recently decided it was time to collaborate again. We are thrilled to be able to continue that association now in New Orleans!
I originally completed a degree in Music Education from Kansas State Teacher's College, now known as Emporia State University and taught elementary vocal music 2nd grade through 6th grade to 620 children!
I went on in 1972 to begin my Master of Music degree in Flute Performance with a teaching assistantship at the University of Missouri in Kansas City studying with Dr Jim Hamilton, flutist in the Kansas City Symphony. Since much of my undergraduate background was in piano and music education, gradually moving towards flute performance, I spent 3 years and completed it in 1975.
I was then invited to teach as a one-year adjunct at William Jewell College, a Liberal Arts college north of Kansas City. This one-year position has stretched now into 2023 and has offered me opportunities to teach methods classes and private lessons. As a member of the William Jewel faculty, I founded the WJC Flute Choir and held yearly examinations for Royal American Conservatory Examinations.
For 25 years I have freelanced for Young Audiences of Kansas City with various ensembles presenting 30 to 40 performances each year in the public schools in the Kansas City area. Another of my passions has been to play flute/guitar repertoire with many fine guitarists!
Over the course of my career, I have been active in several orchestras in the Kansas City area including principal flutist in the UMKC Civic Orchestra (1975-1985); the Liberty Symphony, (1985 to present), the Northland Symphony (1989 to present), and second flute and piccolo in the St. Joseph Symphony (1985 to present).