Carol Kniebusch Noe

 

Carol Kniebusch Noe, is a Professor Emeritus of Music at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia where she received the James Madison University Distinguished Teaching Award in 1989. She holds degrees from Illinois Wesleyan University and Indiana University, has studied with Marcel Moyse and Geoffrey Gilbert, and attended classes in England and Switzerland taught by James Galway and William Bennett. She performed as principal flute of the Roanoke Symphony and the Roanoke Opera Company, in the Vancouver, B.C. and Baltimore Symphonies, and taught at the University of British Columbia. From 1983-88, she was the Director of the Flute Choir Program at the Geoffrey Gilbert Summer Flute Classes and continued in that position for the Peter Lloyd Summer Classes.

Professor Noe founded the James Madison University Flute Club, one of the oldest university flute clubs in the United States. She also organized and administered the James Madison University Flute Choir Composition Competition for over a decade. The contest was formed to encourage composers to write original music for flute choirs, and most of the winning compositions throughout the years are now published.

In 1996 Carol completed her book A Guidebook to Flute Choir Literature published by Kendall-Hunt. In 1999 she conducted the JMU Flute Choir on a tour to England and in the production of two CD recordings: Sounds and Colors I and Sounds and Colors II. Carol has also written several articles for The Flutist Quarterly, Flute Talk, The Instrumentalist, Pan and Flutewise.

Carol Noe was a National Flute Association delegate to China in 1987 and to the Soviet Union in 1989, where she conducted flute choirs in both cultural exchanges. She has conducted flute choir festivals in many states, as well as in Canada, England and Venezuela. Professor Noe served the NFA as Historian from 1975-80; as Competitions Coordinator from 1985-1987; as Secretary of the Board in 1981; as conductor of the Professional Flute Choir in 1991, 1996, and 2002; and as a member of the Board of Directors from 1982-84, 1992-94, and in the current term beginning 2004.

Ms. Noe has premiered several works by the English composer Andrew Downes:

  • Sonata for 8 Flutes (NFA Convention 1996; British premiere October 1996, Birmingham)
  • Fantasia for Flutes (British premiere 1999, Birmingham)
  • Sonata for Flute and Piano (world premiere November 1999 in Paris, France)
  • Song of the Eagle commissioned for the 25th Anniversary of the JMU Flute Choir; premiered in 2000
  • Symphony No. 5 for Flute Orchestra premiered in Birmingham, England (March, 2002); first American performance at The National Flute Association Convention in Washington, D.C. (August, 2002).

Carol's other interests include showing dogs as well as serving as an approved judge for The American Kennel Club.