A&E

This week in awesome: Roldon Brown

by Walter Pierce

The Ind's favorite flutist bested 60 competitors recently to secure the lone spot studying with master flute instructor Thaddeus Watson at the Frankfurt Conservatory of Music and Art in Germany.

The Ind's favorite flutist - full disclosure: we don't know many flutists; OK, we don't know any - bested 60 competitors recently to secure the lone spot studying with master flute instructor Thaddeus Watson at the Frankfurt Conservatory of Music and Art in Germany, one of the most prestigious music schools in Europe. Roldon Brown, who was profiled in a LivingIND cover story last September, will move to Germany soon and begin his studies with Watson in the fall.

"It still has not quite hit me that I won and that I will be moving there in a couple of months!" Brown gushes in an email to The Ind announcing the win. "The other flutists at the live round were all very good and I am honored to be the one that was accepted into Prof. Watson's studio."

A UL alumnus and most recently an instructor at the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra's Conservator of Music, Brown has performed with the ASO as well as the Rapides Symphony. He secured a chair with the latter at the tender age of 19.

Several Ind readers, we're pleased to say, stepped forward after the story last year - the story detailed not only Roldon's incredible talent but also his profound stuttering and the financial hardships his family endured in order for him to become a world-class musician - and offered financial help so Roldon could upgrade his instrument.

Read more on Roldon here.