Lisa Garner Santa

Professor of Flute

Rice University, Shepherd School of Music, D.M.A.
Florida State University, M.M.
West Texas State University, B.M.

Texas Tech University
College of Visual and Performing Arts
School of Music
Box 42033
Lubbock, TX 79409-2033
lisa.garner@ttu.edu
806-742-2270, X259

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Bio

Lisa Garner Santa currently serves as Artist-Performer and Professor of Flute at Texas Tech University where she enjoys a diverse career as teacher, recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician. Performance highlights include the world premiere of Mike Mower's Concerto for Flute and Wind Ensemble and a Carnegie Hall debut recital featuring Chamber Works for Flute. 

Rêver en Couleur (Dreaming in Color): French Music for Solo Flute and Piano, presented in collaboration with Gabriel Sanchez, is her most recent CD release on MSR Classics.

"I am quite taken [with this disc]...It is all magnificent music, played with finesse. The flutist has the kind of tone I prefer - rich, colorful, perfectly in control, and always in tune. Her phrasing is all well-shaped and thoughtful, just what this elegant music deserves. Sanchez is an equal partner. [Garner Santa] is a truly remarkable artist with dazzling musical ability. Flutists and non-flutists alike should find this wonderful disc. I look forward to hearing more from this duo."

- American Record Guide

Her 2004 CD release of From Noon to Starry Night, a compilation of 20th Century chamber works for flute and piano (with TTU Faculty, Lora Deahl, piano), has also received outstanding reviews.

"The title track (From Noon to Starry Night by Matthew Santa)...is a wonderful addition to the flute repertoire...Garner's colors, vibrato use, and interpretations are excellent. This interesting, well-produced CD should be in every flutist's record collection." 

- Flute Talk

"gorgeous - flat-out gorgeous...a true artist. It serves me and 'All the Words' EXTREMELY well." 

- Dan Welcher, Composer

As an active member of the National Flute Association, Dr. Garner Santa recently served as Program Chair for the 2011 convention in Charlotte, NC, and continues to serve as a member of the NFA Executive Committee.  She has been a featured performer at the Boston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas, Nashville, Kansas City, and Las Vegas conventions as well as an adjudicator and/or coordinator for many NFA events and competitions including the High School Soloist Competition, the NFA Newly Published Music Competition, the NFA Professional Flute Choir Competition, and as the NFA General Competitions Coordinator.

Lisa Garner Santa's versatile programming ranges from the elegant Baroque music of Bach to the jazz-inspired writings of Mike Mower. Her passion for contemporary flute repertoire was sparked over a decade ago by the early flute works of Lowell Liebermann, which was the topic of her dissertation. Since then, she has become a leader in the effort to expand and promote new music by performing and commissioning works from young as well as established composers including Warner Hutchison, Matthew Santa, Mike Mower, Teresa LeVelle, and Peter Fischer as well as Derek Bermel as a member of the Flute/Clarinet Duos Consortium.

As a pedagogue, Lisa Garner Santa presents masterclasses throughout the United States and abroad. Recent international exchanges include masterclasses at the Royal College of Music in London, England and Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. Presentations and performances at various regional and national conventions include invitations from the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Music Teachers Association, the National Association of Wind and Percussion Instructors, and the College Music Society. Her research and pedagogical articles are frequently published in The Flutist Quarterly, Flute Talk, and The Instrumentalist.
In recognition of her creative teaching, she was awarded the Texas Tech Big 12 Fellowship as well as the Texas Tech Alumni Association New Faculty Award and is also an elected member of Texas Tech University's prestigious Teaching Academy.

With co-authors Matthew Santa and Thomas Hughes, Lisa Garner Santa developed the Flute/Theory Workout, a method that efficiently introduces full-range scalar and chordal flute technique while introducing music theory fundamentals at the same time. The Workout, which comes with an entertaining accompaniment CD, is available through Carolyn Nussbaum Music Co., and Flute World.

Dr. Garner Santa holds performance degrees from West Texas State University, Florida State University, and The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Her teachers to whom she is eternally grateful include Carol Wincenc, Charles DeLaney, Sally Turk, Helen Blackburn.

In addition to her active role as a flutist, Lisa Garner Santa is also a certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor and member of the Yoga Alliance. She teaches Yoga for Musicians at the TTU School of Music and Kripalu Yoga classes at various locations throughout Lubbock. Please feel free to contact her at lisa.garner@ttu.edu for information on Yoga for Musicians workshops.

This summer Dr. Garner Santa will be performing, teaching, and leading Yoga for Musicians classes at the University of Colorado, Boulder's Panoramic Flutist seminar, May 28-31, 2013.