Board Members

2019 - 2020 Board Members

Tyler Menzales
President
Young Artist and Masterclass Coordinator

Flutist,Tyler Menzel, is an active solo, orchestral, and chamber musician. Mr. Menzales is the principal flutist of the Billings Symphony Orchestra & Chorale, and Third Flute and Solo Piccolo with the Great Falls Symphony Orchestra in Great Falls, Montana.

Mr. Menzales holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Robert Langevin. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Bonita Boyd and was awarded Eastman’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate, the school’s highest graduation honor. Other studies include lessons with Mark Sparks of the St. Louis Symphony at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and Nancy Stagnitta, at the Interlochen Arts Academy where he graduated with a high school diploma.

In his spare time, Mr. Menzales is a serious cook with an obsessive expertise in dishes featuring the pumpkin. This activity is done in the company of his fiancé and their overly-clingy cocker-spaniel who is always nestled close.

Jennifer Brimson Cooper
Treasurer

Jennifer Brimson Cooper has presented performances and clinics in Brazil, Austria, England, Ireland, Canada, and across the United States. She has served as flutist with the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne and Cave Run Symphony Orchestra, KY, and has performed with Huntington Symphony, Richmond Symphony, and West Virginia Symphony Orchestras. Jennifer is a laureate of many competitions including the William C. Byrd Young Artists Competition, Gilbert/Feld Prize for Woodwind Duo (RNCM), the Elora Festival Young Artists Competition, Pittsburgh Flute Club, Claude Monteaux Flute Competition, and the Cincinnati Flute Symposium. Her research on Canadian Music for Flute has been published in the British Flute Journal, Pan, and she has recorded CD's of Canadian Flute Octets, Flute Quartets as a member of Quartet Laurier, Canadian Flute Duos, and a recording with Awea Duo on Lei Liang’s chamber compilation, Bamboo Lights.

Jennifer received her doctoral degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, MMus from the Royal Northern College of Music, and BMus from Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Canada. She has served on faculty as Assistant Professor of Flute and Music History at Morehead State University, KY, and has taught at Lutheran Summer Music Festival and Academy, and as a member of the KIIS consortium in Salzburg, Austria. She currently teaches flute in Missoula, MT and performs and tours as flutist with Awea Duo. Cooper is a Powell Flutes Performing Artist.

Pamela Buckheit
Secretary

Pam Buckheit is an administrative assistant at Great Falls College - MSU and serves as an adjunct flute instructor for their lifelong learning program. She holds degrees from the University of Montana where she studied with Margaret Schuberg.

Norman Menzales
MFA Website Developer
Flute Festival Program Chair

Filipino-American flutist, Norman Menzales, joined the Great Falls Symphony of Montana as Principal Flutist in September 2012 and was appointed the same position with Colorado’s Fort Collins Symphony in May 2013. He is an active orchestral, solo and chamber musician and has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic in New York, the Erie Chamber Orchestra in Pennsylvania, and the Chattanooga Symphony in Tennessee, among others.

An artist dedicated to music education, Menzales frequently performs as solo flutist of Montana’s premier woodwind quintet, the Chinook Winds and strives to bring live, classical music to rural communities throughout the Northwest. He is on faculty at the Western Nebraska Community College and International Music Festival in Loja, Ecuador.

A native of Georgia, Menzales graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Music degree with Dr. Tadeu Coelho and went on to the Eastman School of Music where he received a Master of Music degree and Performer’s Certificate with Bonita Boyd. When not playing the flute, Menzales enjoys cooking, movies, reading and spending as much time as he can with his fiancé and their Cocker-Spaniel, Daphne.

Kirsten McGlynn
Newsletter Editor

For the last thirteen years, Kirsten served as second flute in the Missoula Symphony, but is thrilled to serve the Missoula Symphony Association in a whole new capacity! She is a graduate of the University of Montana with a master’s degree in Flute Performance. For years, Kirsten has had a large and thriving flute studio and has been very involved with the Missoula community music scene: adjudicating, offering masterclasses and workshops to flutists in our local schools, co-directing the Missoula community flute choir “Zootown Flutes,” and teaching music classes through the program “Center for Music by People with Disabilities.” Kirsten also recently served as director of 2 Valleys Stage, a performing arts series and school outreach program based out of Seeley Lake.
When she isn’t playing/teaching, you can find her hanging out with her husband and her two kids on a hiking trail, biking or playing outside!

Sheri Johnson
Membership Coordinator

Coming Soon!

Emily Nazario
Social Media

Since childhood, Emily always had a passion for music. Inspired by her grandfather, a former clarinetist in the United States Marine Band, Emily decided to learn the flute at age 10. Since then, family gatherings have always consisted of Emily and her grandfather playing flute and clarinet duets.

Emily Nazario is a flutist and private flute instructor based in Montgomery County, Maryland. She is currently on the faculty at the International School of Music in Bethesda and on the board of the Montana Flute Association. Emily holds a Master of Music degree in Flute Performance from the University of Wyoming (2018) where she held a Graduate Assistantship, and completed her undergraduate studies from Ithaca College (2015) where she earned a Bachelor of Music Performance. Additionally, Emily spent the Fall 2014 semester of her Bachelor's degree living in The Netherlands, where she studied flute at Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Dedicated to teaching, Emily teaches private flute lessons in Maryland and also through Skype. While living in rural Wyoming, she began teaching flute lessons through platforms such as Skype and has since developed her presentation "The Virtual Flute: 'Skyping' Your Way to a Successful Studio" which she has presented at the Mid-South Flute Society Fair and the Montana Flute Festival.

Emily is passionate about traveling, being outside, photography, and experiencing different cultures. When she's not playing the flute, Emily enjoys reading, hiking, long road trips, cooking, planning future trips, and spending time with her friends and family.