Brenna Wiinanen
Communications and Education Coordinator, Wintergreen Music
Brenna Wiinanen, flutist, is an active performer, teacher, and administrator whose experiences have led to numerous masterclasses, performances, and conferences around the world.
Though originally from North Dakota, Wiinanen is currently based in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is pursuing her Doctorate in Music Performance and specialized studies in Arts Administration and College Teaching at the Florida State University (FSU). There, Wiinanen serves as a teaching assistant for the flute studio. Wiinanen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (music performance, flute) from Coastal Carolina University (CCU), where she graduated as the Outstanding Senior in the Music Department, with Honors, and Summa Cum Laude. She also holds a Master in Music with a dual concentration in Musicology and Performance from the University of Kansas (KU). Her published thesis titled “The National Flute Association’s Twentieth Anniversary Anthology of American Flute Music and the Development of American Compositional Style in the Twentieth Century,” explores how the conception and formation process influenced the reception of The Anthology and its relevance today.
In addition to her teaching responsibilities at FSU, Wiinanen also plays with numerous ensembles. In 2021, she helped found the Fountain Five Woodwind Quintet (F5), which has been quite active in Florida’s Panhandle region. Most recently, F5 was awarded first place in the ensemble division of the Music International Grand Prix, resulting in a performance in Merkin Hall in New York City in April of 2023. F5 frequently collaborates with the South Georgia Ballet, giving outreach performances of Peter and the Wolf for elementary schools in Thomasville, GA; the Panama City Symphony Orchestra; and the Sinfonia Gulf Coast Orchestra. In 2022, F5 premiered Debussy’s La Mer arranged for Wind Quintet and Piano by Tyler Taylor.
Aside from F5, Wiinanen is the 3rd Flutist/Piccoloist for the Panama City Orchestra. She has also played flute and piccolo for the FSU Symphony Orchestra and their tour to the Dominican Republic, FSU’s Wind Orchestra, and their Graduate Flute Ensemble. While at KU, she played with the Symphony Orchestra while also serving as its orchestra librarian. Her experiences there also led to an internship with the Kansas City Symphony and their librarians. In the summer of 2021, she was also invited to play with the Ad Astra Chamber Players, an ensemble comprised of graduate students from the Kansas City region. Wiinanen’s time at CCU included involvement in the Wind Ensemble, Marching Band, and Flute Choir.
In May 2017, Wiinanen studied music in Italy as a part of a study abroad program through CCU, where she made her international debut performing chamber works alongside classmates in Arezzo, Italy. In addition, she was a Research Fellow for the Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts and had the distinguished opportunity to research a variety of topics pertaining to music under the mentorship of prominent professors. One of these projects, in which she composed a third movement to Mozart’s Andante in C for flute, won first place in the 2019 university-wide undergraduate research competition and was also featured in the South Carolina Flute Society’s newsletter from Spring 2019.
Wiinanen was also selected to present her research on Hildegard von Bingen and the early musical influences of Jutta of Sponheim at the College Music Society Mid-Atlantic Chapter Conference in March 2018. Wiinanen also performed with the Collegiate Flute Choir at the National Flute Association’s national conference in the summer of 2019 and won second place at the Kansas Flute Society’s 2020 online summer competition, college division, for her performance of Toru Takemitsu’s Air. In January of 2023, Wiinanen won a spot in the Florida Flute Convention’s 2023 Advanced Masterclass, served as their 2023 High School Honors Choir Coordinator, and performed a recital titled “Flute Favorites.”
Wiinanen enjoys working with the Tallahassee Youth Orchestra as their woodwind and chamber ensemble coach, maintaining a private studio, and seeking new opportunities for development in performance, teaching, administration, and research. Her primary teachers include Amy Hardison Tully, Daniel Velasco, Mary Matthews, and Karen Large.
