Flute Center Presents

NeSterN Duo Low Flute Recital

A Trilogy of Music for Low Flutes and Piano by Daniel Dorff

featuring Kathleen Nester and Wendy Stern

Live at FC New York | June 2, 2026 | 6PM EST

Free Auditor Tickets

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BIOGRAPHIES 

Kathleen Nester is the Assistant Principal Flute/Piccoloist of the New
Jersey Symphony. She is also a member of Orchestra Lumos in Stamford,
CT and has performed with orchestras throughout the tristate region,
including the New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera, American
Ballet Theater and The Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

Known for her artistry and versatility on both the traditional and ethnic
instruments of the flute family, Kathleen Nester has recorded with a wide
range of artists, including Joshua Bell, Sting, Bria Skonberg, Ute Lemper,
Jane Monheit, Juliet Grecco and others. She originated the flute book for
An American Paris on Broadway and was flutist for Roundabout Theater’s
2015 revival of She Loves Me on Broadway, the first live-streamed
production for Broadway HD. She can be heard playing piccolo, flute, alto
flute and bass flute on many major motion picture soundtracks.

Kathleen holds a Master of Music degree in performance from the
Manhattan School of Music where she was a student of Ransom Wilson. An
Artists International Competition winner, she studied theory at City College
with Joel Lester, and on scholarship in France with Marcel Moyse. She is a
certified Suzuki Flute and Recorder teacher, teaches at the Riverdale
Country School and coaches the Youth Orchestra of the New Jersey
Symphony. With Wendy Stern she founded the NeSterN Duo, which
commissioned a trilogy of works for low flutes and piano by Daniel Dorff.

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A graduate of The Juilliard School, flutist Wendy Stern enjoys a diverse
career, combining her love of performance with her passion for teaching.
Formerly on the adjunct faculty of Montclair State University and Vassar
College, she is presently a Teacher-Trainer of both the Suzuki Association
of the Americans and the Asia Region Suzuki Association, and has been a
guest artist at festivals and workshops throughout Canada, England,
Australia, New England, Taiwan and the United States. Throughout her
long span as a freelance flutist in the New York/Tristate area, Wendy has
performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles at Lincoln Center,
Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Zankel Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, The
DiMenna Center for Classical Music, and the New Jersey Performing Arts
Center.

An avid proponent of newly composed chamber music, Wendy premiered
and recorded works by Lei Liang and John Deak with The Cicada Chamber
Ensemble (with members of the New York Philharmonic) and works by
Cynthia Folio with Ensemble Triolet. As a long-time member of the
dynamic and innovative chamber ensemble Flute Force, she has recorded
for CRI, VAI, Innova, MPR, Adam Abeshouse and Windham Hill. With
Matthew Roitstein, Wendy led a consortium of 46 alto flutists for the
commission of Amanda Harberg’s Firefly Triptych, and with Kathleen
Nester, commissioned a trilogy of works for low flutes and piano by Daniel
Dorff.

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Grammy® and Latin Grammy® Nominee, pianist Allison Brewster
Franzetti has received international acclaim for stunning virtuosity and
musicality. Performances include the Grammy® Awards Classical Music
Tribute to Earl Wild and Lang Lang, Latin Grammy® Awards live
broadcast, and concertos with The Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Janacek
Philharmonic, City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, English Sinfonia and
the Queens Symphony Orchestra.

As collaborative pianist she has worked with flutists James Galway, Julius
Baker , and Nestor Torres, and is the senior pianist for the Florida Flute
Association, pianist for the National Flute Association and the Mid-Atlantic
Flute Convention. She is also one of the pianists/keyboardists with the New
Jersey Symphony.

Dr. Brewster Franzetti holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music, the
Juilliard School and Rutgers University.

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Composer Daniel Dorff graduated magna cum laude from Cornell
University and earned his master’s degree in composition from the
University of Pennsylvania. His works have been commissioned by such
ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra, and
performed by individuals and groups including the Baltimore Symphony,
Eastman Wind Ensemble, Chicago Symphony, and the Berlin
Philharmonic. Other commissions have come from the South Dakota
Symphony, piccolo legends Walfrid Kujala and Sarah Jackson, the Colorado
Symphony’s Up Close and Musical series, Young Audiences, American
Composers’ Forum, Ithaca College School of Music, pianist Marc-Andre
Hamelin, and many of the world’s leading flutists. He has also created
arrangements for Sir James Galway, and for pop musicians Keith Emerson
and Lisa Loeb.

Daniels Dorff’s woodwind music has entered the repertoire and is
frequently performed and recorded worldwide. Dorff has also written many
recital works for often-neglected instruments such as contrabassoon, bass
clarinet, tenor saxophone, and most recently the trilogy of pieces for bass
and alto flutes, commissioned by the NeSterN Duo and which appear on
this album.