Meet the council
The BFS Council are Trustees of the British Flute Society charity, and lead on the Society’s plans and direction. The Council meets quarterly, and they and the BFS Officers work throughout the year, planning events, promoting and supporting the flute community, and fulfilling the charitable aims of the Society, whilst ensuring that we adhere to the BFS constitution and charity rules. If you’re interested in joining the Council, contact us to find out more.
Wissam Boustany - President
Born in Lebanon, Wissam Boustany began his musical studies in Beirut with his stepfather. He moved to Britain in 1977, where he studied at Chetham's School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. During these years Wissam received numerous awards, notably the Silver Medal in the 1982 Madeira International Flute Competition and (in the same year) the woodwind prize in the Royal Overseas League Competition. Wissam has worked with orchestras including the BBC SSO, BBC Philharmonic, LSCO, State Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Utrecht Chamber Orchestra, Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra and Palestine National Orchestra. In 1995, he founded Towards Humanity, a multi-decade international initiative working with musicians and charities, helping communities who suffer from the tragedies of war. In 1997 he was awarded a knighthood by the Lebanese government (Chevalier de l’Ordre du Cèdre) in recognition of his music and peace work.
Emily Beynon - Vice-President
Emily Beynon has been principal flute of the Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam for more than 25 years. Born in Wales, she began her flute studies at the Royal College of Music with Margaret Ogonovsky and then went on to study with William Bennett at the Royal Academy of Music and Alain Marion in Paris.
Emily has performed as concerto soloist with many orchestras, and as a chamber musician works regularly with her sister, the harpist Catherine Beynon, and the pianist Andrew West. She is frequently heard on the radio, has featured in several television documentaries, and has made 12 concerto/recital albums to date.
Emily is an enthusiastic protagonist of new music and has had many new works written for her. A passionate and dedicated teacher, she is regularly invited to give masterclasses all over the world. From 2009 – 2021, she was Artistic leader of the Netherlands Flute Academy. In 2020, she established a YouTube channel with video tutorials on technical aspects of playing and orchestral repertoire solos.
Sir James Galway & Lady Jeanne Galway - Honorary Patrons
Sir James and Lady Jeanne have been great supporters of The British Flute Society for many years. With over 30 million recordings sold worldwide, extensive international touring, frequent television appearances, tireless promotion of the arts and his passionate work in music education, Sir James Galway has been a household name for decades. He has collaborated on film soundtracks such as The Lord of the Rings, and partnered such popular artists as Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell and Sir Elton John.
Lady Jeanne Galway is one of the leading female flute soloists of the decade, touring around the world as soloist with orchestras such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Denver and the National Symphony, and appearing regularly as duo partner with her husband. In addition to her highly successful career as a soloist, Lady Galway is also an accomplished chamber musician and a strong advocate for the importance of music education in schools.
Lisa Nelsen - Chair
Lisa Nelsen is our Chair, and has been an active member of the Council several times over the past 20 years - and was interviewed in the November 2018 edition of Pan. She is internationally recognised for her versatility as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, educator and mentor in performance practices. As Chair, Lisa leads the overall direction of the Society and heads up the Council.
Gavin Stewart - Vice-Chair
Gavin is a flautist, composer, and researcher and has a particular interest in the realm of new music which kickstarted after he studied with Robert Dick in New York City following his undergraduate studies. He is currently completing his PhD which explores the Kingma system flute's capabilities at retranslating the sounds and techniques of the Japanese shakuhachi through the curation of a new body of work for flute and electronics. Gavin has appeared as a guest artist in several international festivals and conventions including a residency with the International Contemporary Ensemble and currently plays with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group as part of their NEXT programme. You can regularly catch him performing/improvising with London based groups The Thinking Minds Project, PRISM, and epoch ensemble.
Liz Wrighton
Liz studied at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Jonathan Rimmer, and now works across the Midlands as a freelance flautist and educator. She currently teaches at Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Stratford Grammar School for Girls and Warwick Prep, and previously worked for the Music Service in Birmingham and as a primary music subject lead. Her work in inclusion has led to a longstanding relationship with the One-Handed Musical Instrument Trust, and she has led numerous Arts Award days and events for them and through Tonic Arts, her own organisation. She runs the Tonic Arts Flute Ensembles and Malvern Flute Choir, and is passionate about bringing people together through music. Liz joined the council in 2020 and is our Area Reps Coordinator.
Sarah Heard - Treasurer
Sarah first joined the BFS in 2006 and was hooked after attending the convention at RNCM. Then came many more conventions, teachers' CPD days and, of course, reading Pan. For many years she was fortunate enough to run flute days in Hampshire, often at Winchester Cathedral. Sarah has such fond memories of all the brilliant musicians and teachers she encountered during that time and can't wait to get in touch with some of them again. Sarah began her career as a woodwind teacher for Hampshire Music Service, teaching mostly flute students and leading ensembles. She founded Saxophony and Funky Flute Club, who have both now celebrated their ten year anniversaries. In 2019 she moved to Manchester to work at Chetham's School of Music and following a rocky time through the COVID-19 pandemic she is still there part-time facilitating the Outreach programme alongside working for the Royal Opera House in their Learning & Participation department.
Kate Cuzner
A dedicated teacher and improviser, Kate studied flute at LCM and on the jazz course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has toured the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand with orchestras and ensembles, released an album of jazz compositions, and published compositions with Valentine Music, AC Black, Hunt Edition and others. She records and plays with harpist Patricia Spero and in duo Aurigami, pursuing a joint passion for purely improvised music. Kate teaches in North Essex and London and is involved with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music education programme, the Music in Secondary Schools Trust. Her focus on the council is music in Secondary Education.
Susan Torke
Susan grew up in East Aurora, New York and started playing the flute at the age of 10. Susan attended Interlochen - National Music Camp and was also a scholarship winner to the prestigious Chautauqua Institute. She then studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with William Bennett, where she was a Leverhulme Scholar. For the past 25 years, London has been her home. She has recorded for the Deutsche Grammophon, BBC, both radio and TV and other session work. Susan teaches privately at home, in a local state school, at a private school and at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music. Susan is our Assistant AFT Rep and Membership Support.
Carla Rees
Carla Rees is Editor of Pan, and was previously involved with the BFS as Convention Programme Director, Assistant Editor and official photographer. She has contributed articles and reviews for Pan since 2000, and served as the International Liaison Chair for the NFA. Her performance career incorporates low flutes, the Kingma System and baroque flutes, and she has premiered several hundred works. She has a PhD from the RCM, and teaches the flute at Royal Holloway University of London. She is Programme Leader for the innovative distance learning BA(Hons) Music Degree at the Open College of the Arts. She is also a composer and arranger and her works are published by Tetractys.
Sophie McGrath
Sophie McGrath is Communications and Advertising Manager, and started working for the BFS in 2018. She enjoys the variety of her role, with responsibilities ranging from booking advertising for Pan journal to social media and bringing this website into the world! She is an award-winning writer and communications specialist working in the music and charity sectors, and has previously held staff positions at Lonely Planet, Oxfam GB and Time Inc UK. She is also a Grade 8 level flautist and an indie musician whose loop-based songs layer vocals, guitar, mandolin, flute and electronics.
Our Volunteers
Andrew Blanshard
Andy has been playing the flute since he was 12. He now lives in the North West and works as a hospital doctor in Manchester. He enjoys playing duets with his flute-playing wife Hazel, whom he met in their university orchestra.
Helen Coates
Helen started playing the flute at the age of 10. She graduated from Leeds Conservatoire (formally Leeds College of Music) in 2015 with BA (Hons) Classical Music as well as a Fellowship in Flute Playing from the Victoria College of Music. Since then she has taken up full time employment but in her spare time is an active member of Chamäleon Flute Ensemble based in Leeds and Rarescale Flute Academy based in Windsor. Highlights are playing at the International Low Flutes Festival in Washington DC and Flute Ensembles across Europe Festival in Poznań, Poland as well as various performances across West Yorkshire.
Julie Twite
Former Vice-Chair, Julie is now helping in the background since starting maternity leave. She studied flute on a joint course with Royal College of Music and Royal Holloway University of London before undertaking a PGCE at the University of Bristol. She worked as a flute specialist woodwind teacher for Buckinghamshire Music Service before moving to West Sussex and teaching privately. Julie founded and directs the Chichester Flute Choir and is passionate about encouraging more flute choirs to start across the country as well as building a community between flute choir directors.