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Patti Adams

2014 Distinguished Service Award

 

Patti Adams is piccoloist and assistant principal flutist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (formerly the New Orleans Symphony) and is on the faculty of Loyola University. She has performed with the National Repertory Orchestra and Colorado Music Festival and recorded and toured internationally with the Mexico City Philharmonic as coprincipal flutist.

In addition to her musical duties with the LPO, Adams played an active role in the start-up period of the orchestra, serving as director of marketing for three seasons. Formed in 1991, the LPO is the longest standing musician-governed and -operated orchestra in the United States. She twice served as president of the orchestra and was a member of its board of directors for numerous seasons. Adams was a member and vice-chair of the Community Advisory Board of WWNO public radio and director of chamber music activities for the acclaimed Windsor Court Hotel and is currently a member of the Classical Arts Award Committee for Gambit Weekly.

Adams has served the NFA in a variety of roles including program chair for its 25th anniversary Chicago convention in 1997; president; member of the Board of Directors; chair of the Advisory Committee; local arrangements chair for the New Orleans conventions in 1989 and 2013; and (currently in her second year) chair of the Gala Awards Dinner. She has performed and presented at numerous NFA conventions and was featured as the cover story of the February 2004 issue of Flute Talk magazine.

Patti Adams

Her major teachers include Julius Baker and Everett Timm and she performed in masterclasses with Jean-Pierre Rampal, Maxence Larrieu, Sam Baron, and William Bennett. She was a semifinalist in the Geneva and Naumburg Flute Competitions and prize winner in the Charleston Symphony and NFA’s Young Artist Competitions.


In her parallel artistic life, Adams is the owner and director of the Garden District Gallery in New Orleans, and is an award-winning painter in oils and watercolor. She received her training at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art and has participated in numerous citywide art exhibitions, including those at her own gallery. She has designed and produced many commissions for individuals and organizations, including the American Harp Society, Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and, locally, for the Windsor Court Hotel, Pickwick Club, Galatoire’s Restaurant, the Krewes of Rex, Athenians and Hermes, the LPO, and the New Orleans Opera. She created the scenic artwork used in the opera’s 2010 production of The Magic Flute, her favorite opera and instrument.

photo by Carlton Mickle