Bio

Janelle Gillespie (flute) has recently graduated with a Master’s of Music in Flute Performance at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware in May of 2024. She graduated from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina with a Bachelors of Music in the spring of 2022. She also studied traditional Irish flute at University College of Cork in Cork, Ireland in the summer of 2019. She is currently the Principal Flute of the Southern Delaware Orchestra (SODELO), the Community Outreach Coordinator for Moravian University's Music Department, and is teaching privately.

While at the University of Delaware, Janelle was the Flute Studio Teaching Assistant at the University of Delaware. She oversaw the University of Delaware Flute Choir, along with teaching undergraduate members of the flute studio regularly. As a private teacher, she has taught students of all ages. She believes that the goal is to make the student become a teacher even if they are not going into music education, as we musicians are constantly learning from each other and from ourselves. She always makes sure they understand and grasp concepts well enough that they can replicate scenarios without her around. She encourages her students to think critically and take risks; instead of always telling them what to do, she gives them the liberty to figure things out for themselves and gives guidance as necessary. While she keeps her expectations high for her students and always pushes them to be the best they can be, she knows that they are human too and deserve the same compassion and understanding that she got as a young musician.

Also at the University of Delaware, Janelle was the Graduate Assistant for Community Outreach and the Community Music School. There, she played a key role in supporting various events and initiatives through preparation, logistics coordination, creative support, and providing general administrative support for UD office staff. She took the lead on projects such as constructing the framework for a UD School of Music Alumni database promoting mentoring opportunities for current students, serving as a liaison between student musicians and various clients or organizations seeking performers, arranging for various student musicians to perform for local organizations, and arranging master classes and mini recitals for grade school students ages 5-18 in several area schools.

Janelle believes being a member of the orchestra is a highlight of her career. In 2017, she performed as principal flutist for the first time with the Philadelphia International Music Festival’s Gold Orchestra. Since then, she has played on numerous large works such as Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 and Symphony No. 2, Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. She is now the Principal Flute of the Southern Delaware Orchestra (SODELO), performing works such as ‘Mars’ and ‘Jupiter’ from Gustav Holst’s The Planets, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Christmas Eve Suite, and Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2. Over the years, she has also played in numerous pit orchestras, including musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof, Sweeney Todd, and Beauty and the Beast, and operas such as The Tender Land and La Clemenza di Tito.

As a soloist, Janelle has put on multiple recitals through her degree programs and also performed as the featured flutist her senior year of high school with Cecile Chaminade’s Concertino with the Warwick Valley High School Honors Wind Ensemble. She thoroughly enjoys getting out into the community and performing when she can, as a soloist or in small chamber groups. Janelle has also participated in multiple masterclasses. She has performed in masterclasses for musicians such as Philadelphia Orchestra Co-Principal bassoonist Mark Gigliotti, Brandon Patrick George from Grammy Nominated chamber group Imani Winds, and Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Principal flutist Patrick Williams.

As an avid social rights activist and advocate for performing works by underrepresented composers, Janelle has been working on expanding her music library to include more underrepresented composers for years now. She has recently begun a full database (not yet published to the public) of flute solos and chamber works to encourage other flute players to further develop their reach in the flute repertoire. In her own performances, Janelle has performed numerous solo works written by women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ composers. These include but are not limited to Sarah Bassingthwaighte’s House of Doors Concerto, Adolphus Hailstork’s Yuhwa, Samuel Zyman’s Sonata No. 2, Valerie Coleman’s Danza De La Mariposa, and Masamitsu Takahashi’s Lamento. Janelle also has a research focus on women in the flute world; in this research, she not only explores female composers and performers dating back to the Baroque period, but also hones in on sexism in the music industry and the feminization of the flute over the years.