Photo credit: Terry Manzo
Flutist Liesel Deppe is a member of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in Ontario, as well as a freelance musician and teacher in southwestern Ontario. She lives in Stratford, where she is actively involved in the local music scene, notably with the chamber music series, INNERchamber.
Liesel has played with many ensembles and orchestras in South Africa, Europe, the United States and Canada. A highlight of her career was playing and touring with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra in Europe and Israel. In the USA she was a member of the Central City Opera Company and the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, while also playing as a substitute with the Colorado Springs Orchestra. In 2002 and 2003 she was a member of the National Academy Orchestra (Canada), with whom she also performed as a soloist. She also appeared as a soloist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra in 2011, and with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2016.
Liesel was born in South Africa and received her undergraduate degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. A scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service enabled her to further her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, Germany, where she obtained a Meisterklassendiplom. She spent one year with Alexa Still at the University of Colorado in Boulder, before moving to Canada where she obtained her M.Mus. degree from the University of Western Ontario. During the 2006-2007 season she was awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, which enabled her to study with various flutists in the United Kingdom and Europe, including Jennifer Stinton, Richard Davies and Stewart McIlwham.
Liesel was awarded the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in November 2011 from the University of Toronto, where she studied with Leslie Newman.
Since 2014, Liesel and pianist, Diana Dumlavwalla, have given numerous performances as a duo. For more information on their collaboration, please visit their website by clicking here. Liesel is also a member of the Feldsperling Duo with saxophonist, Nicole Strum. This past year has seen them in residence at the Banff Centre, and they have given several performances in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.
