Amy Tatum has been appointed to the position of principal flute by the Santa Barbara Symphony.
After receiving more than 150 applications, 70 professionals traveled to Santa Barbara to vie for the top flute position. Tatum joined the orchestra for its recent concert Plains, Trains & Violins.
“There are so many things that I love about playing in this orchestra,” Tatum said. “The world-class musicians in the Santa Barbara Symphony are colleagues that I have deeply respected for many years.
“There is a shared respect between Maestro [Nir] Kabaretti and the members of the orchestra, which allows me to express myself artistically with confidence. And there is a sense of family among this group that is rare and just lovely to be part of. I already feel warmly welcomed and supported by my colleagues.”
“One of the reasons we saw such a large number of auditions for principal flute is that The Symphony has a reputation for being a high-caliber orchestra,” said Lara Wickes, principal oboe of The Santa Barbara Symphony. “When I won the principal oboe position in 2006 there were only 20 applicants.
“With Nir at the helm of the orchestra, the quality of the artistic production has increased dramatically over the last 15 years, so that we are now in extremely high demand with professional musicians from around the world.”
Tatum is a cross-genre flutist who is in demand as a performer and educator in the Los Angeles music community. As a recording artist, her playing can be heard on hundreds of soundtracks for film, television, video games, and popular music.
Tatum holds an affinity for the music of video games, which she regards as one of her generation’s most powerfully innovative creative media. She is the principal flute on Riot Games’ “League of Legends,” and is a featured soloist on the newly released soundtrack.
She performed the music live as a soloist to sold out crowds for the opening ceremonies in both Beijing, China, and LA’s Video Games Live, Boston’s PAX East conference, and the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
She has recorded on the scores of “Assassin’s Creed,” “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” “Halo Wars 2,” “The Sims,” and “Horn.” She was featured as flute and bass flute soloist in Austin Wintory’s Grammy-nominated “Journey” score.
Tatum has appeared as principal flute in some 30 performances with LA Opera and performs regularly with orchestras including the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, LA Master Chorale, Santa Barbara Symphony, LA Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, New West Symphony, and Long Beach Opera.
Tatum believes arts education should be available to all who seek to make their voices heard, and shares this zeal with her students at LA City College, Mt. St. Mary’s, and her private studio
She has appeared as a lecturer and featured artist at CalArts University, Gwangju University and Kyungsung University (Korea), and Scripps College.
For more information, visit TheSymphony.org.