Forbidden Flutes is a wildly imaginative duo that is ambitiously expanding the repertoire, the sound possibilities, and the audience for their instrument. Throughout their adventurous, twelve-year partnership, Forbidden Flutes has developed a personal sound and a unique vision for their ensemble that is distinct and intimate. Their synergetic ensemble travels between jazz and classical landscapes, pushing the boundaries of each genre. Whether flying through the virtuosic passages of opera fantasies, improvising ornaments on Bach Inventions, rocking the rhythms of Radiohead, or weaving together luscious tango tones, one can not tell where Liesa’s flute begins and Laura’s ends. Since 1998, Laura Barron and Liesa Norman have toured with their eclectic music from the Yukon to Florida. Highlights of their performance career include an appearance for 4,000 flutists at the 2004 National Flute Association Convention in Nashville, as well as a featured recital broadcast on CBC in 2000.
Since their inception, Forbidden Flutes has maintained a steadfast mission to integrate classical music into mainstream culture. Their efforts to realize this vision include presenting their programs in alternative venues while engaging their audience with colorful descriptions of their music. They also tour their popular school show, Bach Rocks and Mozart Swings, which peaks young students’ interest by drawing parallels between classical music and the music of their everyday lives. Most recently, Forbidden Flutes was awarded 2nd prize, out of nearly 100 applicants, in the BC film industry’s Pitchmarket competition, for their TV series concept, The Flute Doctors. As hosts of this show, Laura and Liesa share their infectious enthusiasm to get new listeners excited about classical music. They are now entertaining offers from several major network producers who are keen to develop their series for broadcast. Laura and Liesa also frequently compose, arrange, and commission new works for their ensemble to make their music more relevant to modern audiences.
Having appeared as a soloist with the Boston Symphony and in Lincoln Center, Laura brings to Forbidden Flutes twenty years of international classical music experience, as well as the flexibility and creativity that she has cultivated as a novelist and yoga teacher. Liesa enhances their music’s drama and sensuality as a multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer/songwriter, model, and actress. They released their latest CD, Take the L Train, in 2008, to rave reviews. They have also committed their synergetic energy to a variety of other projects which include the development of a television series, The Flute Doctors, which aims to draw new listeners to classical music; their agency, Breathe Easy Productions, which represents numerous Vancouver-based, world-class musical ensembles; and Instruments of Change which provides music for hospices, schools, and charity fundraising house concerts. This versatile pair is equally at home performing jazz, world music or Mozart. Expect their shows to attract everyone from martini drinking hipsters to the tea and crumpet crowd. The only thing forbidden to them is limits! forbiddenflutes.com
Hailed as “one of the finest flutists of her generation” (Flute Network) Laura Barron made her solo debut, at age 17, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Since then, she has given recitals and taught master classes from New Zealand to Denmark, premiered over 50 works with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and given several performances at Carnegie Hall. She is known throughout the flute world for her internationally-sold Carl Fischer book/CD Expressive Etudes for the Flute, her Whole Musician yoga workshop which she has led at numerous international music schools, and her folk music-inspiredrecording, Echoes of a Blue Planet. From 2002-07, she founded and ran the Painted Sky Music Festival which presented twenty “chamber music with a twist” performances throughout Northern Arizona annually. In her early career, she was often a featured soloist with the Brandenburg Ensemble in Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center. Additionally, she served as principal flute of the American Sinfonietta Orchestra, and performed with the Minnesota and Vancouver Symphonies. She has held faculty positions at the Universities of Oregon, Wisconsin-Madison, and Northern Arizona University. In 1996, she earned the distinction of being the first performer to ever graduate with a DMA from McGill. laurabarron.net
As a classically trained flutist and pianist with a doctoral thesis from the University of British Columbia on “Music and Fusion in the 21st Century”, Liesa Norman’s musical endeavors have traversed all genres. In addition to composing the film score for an award-winning BBC documentary, “What if..”, she has performed with the Vancouver Symphony, and has been featured with numerous ensembles on CJRT radio Toronto, City T.V., Vancouver Television and CBC radio and television. Liesa is also busy as a jazz composer and arranger. As well, she specializes in teaching improvisation workshops to classical musicians. Liesa has also enjoyed a career as a model and actress, doing international runway, movie and television work. Her other passions include recording and performing flute and piano with her five-piece band, Beatthief, who has performed at the premier of the James Bond movie "Die Another Day". As Liesa has broadened her compositional palette, she has added valuable new works to the two flute and piano repertoire. Her Mood Swingin’ and Purple Phobia scores will be published by Falls House Press/Theodore Presser in early 2010. liesanorman.com
