610-683-4510
Schaeffer 204
finks@kutztown.edu

Prof. Ellen Finks wears two distinct hats at Kutztown University: Assistant Professor of Music, and Director of Cultural Affairs.

Professor Finks holds degrees in flute performance from the Pennsylvania State University and Northwestern University, and has studied with Walfrid Kujala of the Chicago Symphony and great French pedagogue Marcel Moyse, who Professor Finks counts as one of her major musical inspirations. She has performed with numerous orchestras in the United States and Mexico (where she resided for ten sunny years), including principal flute of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Noroeste of Guadalajara and the Orchestra of the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, and piccolos with the Mexico City Philharmonic as well as with the Reading Symphony. She has been professor of flute at the University of Guadalajara, the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, University of Alabama in Birmingham, Birmingham Southern College, and while in Birmingham, performed regularly with the Birmingham Symphony and Southern Regional Opera Company. Chamber music has also been important in Professor Finks’ musical career, having been a member of the University of Guadalajara Woodwind Quintet, the Aulos Quintet, Quartetto Seattle and Fiesta Winds – a Philadelphia-based woodwind quintet. She has also presented numerous solo recitals. Michael Caruso, of The Main Line Times said of her performance of Messiaen's Le Merle Noir: "Finks and (pianist Curt) Cacioppo played it sensitively and evocatively. They captured an eeriness within the confines of lyric sweetness." Oliver Roosevelt of The Birmingham News said of Schubert's Introduction and Variations on "Ihr Blumlein Alle": "Soloist Ellen Finks handled the bravura writing with seeming ease and nice phrasing."

As Director of Cultural Affairs, Professor Finks established and produces the Kutztown University Performing Artists Series (“The champagne of cultural series in the area” – Reading Eagle.) Under her direction, the Performing Artists Series, now entering its 20th season, has grown to include a weekend children's series and a Community Outreach Program. Her foray into the area of performing arts administration began in 1984, first as Assistant to the Director of Music at Gretna, then as Music Performance Coordinator at Haverford College. She has served on the Board of Directors of Pennsylvania Presenters, the Berks Arts Council, and the Reading Civic Center.