Your Instructors

Lea Kibler was a member of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and performed as a soloist with that orchestra on both flute and piccolo. She has also toured with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra as principal flute. Active as a chamber musician, she has performed with such world famous artists as Szymon Goldberg, Richard Goode, Igor Kipnis and Thomas Nyfenger. Lea has appeared at the Spoleto Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the American Dance Festival. She has performed with Ensemble 21 and was founding director/performer of the Florida Chamber Virtuosi.

Lea received her Master of Music degree from the Yale University School of Music where she was a student of Thomas Nyfenger. She also studied extensively with the greatly esteemed British flutist Geoffrey Gilbert and attended the International Summer School in Ramsgate, England where she studied with William Bennett.

She taught at the New World School of the Arts and the Conservatory at Lynn University in south Florida. A frequent performer at the National Flute Association conventions, she was a finalist in their Young Artist competition and played the American premiere of Jindrich Feld’s Sonatine for Flute and Harp.

She can be heard on the Florida Philharmonic’s recordings on the Harmonia Mundi and Naxos labels, as well as on recordings of Placido Domingo, Gloria Estefan and other Latin artists.

A native of North Carolina, Lea has chosen to return and make Asheville her home. She has been listed on the North Carolina Touring Artist roster and is on the faculty of Clemson University. She is a frequent performer with Amici Music and the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival. Her solo CD, "The Back of Beyond...Music inspired by the Appalachian Mountains" celebrates music of the mountains and benefits in part the Southern Highlands Appalachian Conservancy.

Deborah Heller recently retired from the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, where she played flute and piccolo. She has appeared in many area chamber music concerts and as soloist with the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, and the Jacksonville Symphony. She has performed at National Flute Association conventions and has enjoyed a long relationship with the Florida Flute Association as a board member, guest teacher and performer, and presently as a member of the Geoffrey Gilbert Study Grant Committee. A student of Albert Tipton at Florida State University, she continued her flute studies with Geoffrey Gilbert, Peter Lloyd, and at Wildacres, N.C, and Farnham, England, with William Bennett.

Ms. Heller has served as Adjunct Flute Instructor at the University of North Florida, and currently is a faculty member of the Florida Flute Workshop at Stetson University, held each June. She also maintains a private flute studio, and performs for a wide range of audiences as a member of Arioso Flute Quartet.

Ms. Heller resides in Macclenny, FL, with her husband, Ron Robinson and their two dogs. In her spare time she trains and is trained by her horse, an Appaloosa named Dollar.