Connie Kessel serves as principal flutist of the Northern Dutchess Symphony Orchestra and has enjoyed this opportunity since the orchestra’s inception in 2006. She is an active free-lance performer in the mid-Hudson region and also serves as principal flute & piccolo player with the Vassar College & Community Wind Ensemble & the Rhinebeck Legion Band. Ms. Kessel has enjoyed an extensive and varied music career performing with various groups in many music genres that include orchestral, wind band, opera, woodwind quintet, flute & harp, choral, Dixieland, circus and musical theater. A noteworthy set of performances occurred in May of 1995 when Connie performed with Lee Pritchard and the Camerata Chorale in the New York premiere of Richard Einhorn’s oratorio Voices of Light, accompanying three showings of Dreyer’s classic film “The Passion of Joan of Arc”, at the Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie. Connie started playing piano at age 6 and added the flute at age 9.  Her formal education includes earning a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from SUNY at Fredonia, and a Master of Music degree in Flute Performance with concentrations is Music Education & Conducting from Western Michigan University.  Connie’s most influential teachers include: Catherine Brown-Warner, Claire Durand-Racamato, Cleon Chapen, James Smith, & Richard Suddendorf. Connie is an active area teacher and educator. She runs a private flute studio where she teaches flute lessons year round to students of all ages and abilities. Connie is a certified woodwind adjudicator for NYSSMA and has judged at state NYSSMA Solo & Ensemble Festivals since 1992. She also served as president of the Dutchess County Music Educators Association (DCMEA) from 2003-2012. Connie is currently employed by the Pine Plains Central School District where she has been teaching music since 1987.

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