Zart Dombourian-Eby is the Principal Piccoloist (Robert and Clodagh Ash Chair) of the Seattle Symphony and is regularly featured as both a flute and piccolo soloist and clinician in Seattle and across the world. Her performances have consistently received highest praise from both critics and audiences: the Seattle Times review of her performance of Gunther Schuller’s Concerto for Flute and Piccolo bore the headline “It was a night for flute/piccolo artistry,” and described her playing as “spectacular” and “phenomenal.” Alex Ross of The New Yorker wrote that she “crystallized Varèse’s ‘Density 21.5.’”
A native of New Orleans, she received her B.A. and M.M. degrees from Louisiana State University. After a year of study with Albert Tipton she attended Northwestern University earning a Doctor of Music degree under the tutelage of Walfrid Kujala. She has been a member of the New Orleans Pops, Baton Rouge Symphony, Colorado Philharmonic, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and performed with the Chicago Symphony, and has served on the faculties of the University of Washington and Pacific Lutheran University. She has given master classes throughout the United States and internationally, including the first piccolo recital ever performed in China. She was the founding editor of Flute Talk and is on the Editorial Board for The Flutist Quarterly. She has served as both Program Chair and as President of the National Flute Association and been a featured soloist and presenter at numerous NFA conventions. At the 2025 NFA convention, she will receive both the Lifetime Achievement and Distinguished Service awards from that organization.
Zart has commissioned numerous compositions, including two works for piccolo and piano by Martin Amlin, and sonatas by Gary Schocker and Levente Gyongyosi, and a chamber work by Ken Benshoof. She can be heard in over 150 recordings of the Seattle Symphony, and her solo CD, in shadow, light, is available on Crystal Records. Her award-winning editions of the three Vivaldi piccolo concertos and the Teleman duo concerto are both published by Theodore Presser.
Katlijn Sergeant, from Belgium, studied under Carlos Bruneel at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where she graduated with high distinction in 2005. She then continued her musical education in Amsterdam with Vincent Cortvrint and attended various masterclasses across Europe.
Since 2012, she has been the principal piccolo player with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra in Sweden.
As an accomplished orchestral and chamber musician, Katlijn has performed with a range of prestigious orchestras, including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Royal Monnaie Opera in Brussels, the Royal Danish Opera, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, and the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, I Solisti del Vento.
In 2017, In addition to her performance work, Katlijn began teaching a Master education in piccolo at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.
She has also taught masterclasses at notable institutions like the Yale School of Music, Stony Brook University, the Boston Flute Academy, the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and The Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen.
Katlijn Sergeant is a Burkart artist and performs on a 14K Gold Burkart Elite Piccolo with a Mancke headjoint, as well as a 14K Elite Burkart Flute.
The Tokyo-born piccolo and flute player Natalie Schwaabe grew up in Hong Kong. She started her musical training there and was a member of the Hong Kong Junior Academy of Performing Arts.
After completing her secondary education at the Purcell School in London, she obtained her artistic diploma with honours and a master degree whilst studying with Professor Paul Meisen at the “Hochschule für Musik und Theater” in Munich.
At the age of 21 she became principal flute of the Munich Symphony Orchestra and two years later joined the Munich Radio Orchestra. In 1996 she fulfilled a dream in becoming a member of the prestigious Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio.
In 1996 she received the special prize of the jury at the Prague Spring International Music Competition and was a prizewinner at the 1st International Carl Nielsen Flute Competition in 1998 in Odense, Denmark.
In addition to orchestral playing Natalie Schwaabe performs as a soloist, having been accompanied by the Nürnberger Symphoniker and the Stuttgarter Chamber Orchestra. A great joy for her is to play chamber music with her wind quintet and pianist Jan Philip Schulze.
She is a passionate teacher, giving many piccolo masterclasses worldwide and has the piccolo teaching position at the “Hochschule für Musik und Theater” in Munich. She plays a Jochen Mehnert piccolo and lives in Munich with her husband, the violinist and composer Winfried Grabe and their 3 children.
Pamela Stahel grew up in a musical family in the USA. Following her studies, she guested with several American orchestras before relocating in Switzerland, Ms. Stahel enjoyed an active freelancer career before joining the Philharmonia Zurich; Zurich Opera Orchestra, where she performed for more than 30 years. She had the pleasure to work with conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta & Franz-Welser Möst.
A passionate chamber musician, she performs regularly with diverse ensembles in projects involving premieres of contemporary and crossover works.
Devoted to furthering young musicians; she presently teaches piccolo at the Zurich University of the Arts and holds masterclasses at various festivals and institutions. She has been invited to perform at the NFA Flute Convention USA as well as at festivals such as the Rheinau Summer Academy in Switzerland, Porto Flute Festival, Syrinx Flute Festival & the International Piccolo Festival.
Ms. Stahel is a Burkart Artist, performing on a Limited Edition XXV, Deluxe Model Lillian Burkart Piccolo.
