James and Helen Pellerite Flute Scholarship
The establishment of this scholarship is intended to encourage flute students to become immersed in the orchestral literature of flute. This scholarship is in celebration of James Pellerite's significant professional orchestra experience. Each year, the Jacobs School of Music flute faculty hold an audition that mimics professional orchestra auditions to select a recipient for the James and Helen Pellerite Flute Scholarship.
James Pellerite, born in 1926 in Pennsylvania, is celebrated as an orchestral performer and teacher, as well as for producing a much needed comprehensive fingering guide for the flute world. His musical career began brightly as he enrolled at the Juilliard Schooll studying with Frederick Wilkins. Soon after further studies with William Kincaid, he suceeded his teacher as the solo flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
He has held principal positions with the symphony orchestras in Detroit and Indianapolis in addition to playing with orchestras of Chautauqua, Radio City Music Hall, L'Orquestra Sinfonia de Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Dallas, and Minnesota. His performances have been in collaboration with celebrated musicians, such as Leonard Bernstein, Pablo Casals, Neville Mariner, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Eugene Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski, and Igor Stravinsky. Pellerite's relationship with Indiana University strengthened as he served as Professor of Flute for 30 years from 1956-87.
Since departing his professorship, Pellerite has embarked on a new career of playing contemporary music on Native American flutes. He was taken by its gorgeous sound in 1993 when he and his family moved to Albuquerque, continuing his musical passion in a new direction.
The Jacobs School of Music is forever grateful to Pellerite for his great influence in the flute world, his teaching, and his continuous support for the flute students enrolled at the Jacobs School.