Chicago Flute Club Forums 2023-2024

Sunday, April 14, 2024 (2-3:30 pm CST)

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Rena Urso enjoys a thriving career as a freelance orchestral and chamber musician all over California. In addition to being the Second Flutist of the Oakland Symphony and the Oregon Coast Music Festival Orchestra, she is on the faculty at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach (CSULB), and a teaching artist for the International Piccolo Flute Academy. Previously, Rena held the position of Second Flute and Piccolo of the New York City Opera National Company and San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theater.

A regular substitute/extra with many of the orchestras throughout California including the San Francisco Opera, Pacific Symphony, Monterey, Fresno, Marin, Santa Rosa, Berkeley, Modesto, Sacramento, and California Symphonies, Rena has also performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater, Bolshoi Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Pageant of the Masters Orchestra, Carmel Bach Festival, Festival Mozaic and the Hawaii Symphony. A versatile musician who records for video games, television, radio, and film, Rena has also performed extensively with the National Tours of Wicked and Phantom of the Opera.

As a Licensed Body Mapping Educator Rena presents workshops and masterclasses all over the world, as well as the course she created at CSULB, Body Mapping for the Performing Artist. Dedicated to fostering the next generation of Body Mapping teachers, Rena also serves as a training mentor for the Association of Body Mapping Educators. Since 2018, her popular recurring column in The Flute View has covered a myriad of topics related to injury prevention and musicians’ wellness. Rena is also a RYT-200 certified yoga instructor and certified meditation instructor.  

Since 2015, she has been a Course Coordinator for California State University Summer Arts. In this role, Rena leads a unique and widely successful recurring flute course both in California and in Mondovì Italy, The Complete 21st Century Flutist along with her team of internationally renowned master teachers and flute pedagogues. Highly sought out as a guest artist for flute clubs, summer festivals, and arts organizations around the US and Europe, Rena is frequent guest artist at the International Piccolo Festival in Grado, Italy, among others. An active member of the National Flute Association, Rena regularly performs at the annual conventions. Often serving as an adjudicator for many of the annual competitions, she is also a member of the NFA’s Performance Health and Nominating Committees.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Rena received her Bachelor of Music from Wayne State University, and her Master of Music with honors from California State University Long Beach. She is extraordinarily grateful for her mentors; Robert Patrick, Clement Barone Jr., John Barcellona, Anne Zentner, and her father, former Assistant Concertmaster for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Santo Urso.

Rena has played Muramatsu flutes exclusively for her entire career and performs on a 9k Muramatsu flute, Keefe piccolo, and Yamaha alto flute.

To learn more about Rena, please visit her website, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram pages: www.renaurso.com, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNDKlLH8weVwxpHXZ2eTAlQ, https://www.facebook.com/renamarieurso/, https://www.instagram.com/renaurso/