Angeleita Floyd, dynamic musician and respected conductor and educator, has served as professor of flute at the University of Northern Iowa since 1986. With her flair for insightful teaching and sensitive musical interpretation, Floyd has mentored numerous prize-winning students on the regional and national level. She regularly serves as masterclass teacher and conductor at flute festivals and residencies throughout the United States, South and Central America, and Europe.

Floyd holds a bachelor of music degree from Stetson University, where she studied with Geoffrey Gilbert, and received master of music, master of music education, and doctor of music degrees from Florida State University, studying with Charles DeLaney. The Gilbert Legacy: Methods, Techniques, and Exercises for the Flute, Floyd’s acclaimed flute method, is in its third printing. Founder and director of Winzer Press Publishing, Floyd edited and published Trevor Wye’s biographical work, Marcel Moyse: An Extraordinary Man (1993), and Sheryl Cohen’s Bel Canto Flute: The Rampal School (2003). In addition, she contributes to Flute Talk Magazine, The Flutist Quarterly, NACWPI Journal, the Emerson Flute Forum, and the NFA Pedagogy Anthology.

Most recently, Floyd was a featured guest artist directing the Festival Flute Orchestra at the XXIII Festival Internacional de Flautistas in Quito, Ecuador (June, 2013) and the 80-member Festival Flute Orchestra at the VII Festival Internacional de Flautistas de Costa Rica (April, 2013). At the 40th Annual NFA Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, last August, she directed the Ruby All-Star Flute Orchestra in the opening gala concert and participated in a tribute concert, The Gilbert Legacy: Transformation of a Generation—From Rocks to Rubies.

Adding to her illustrious musical career, Floyd served as vice president, president, and immediate past president of the National Flute Association from 1998 to 2000. Other NFA positions she has held include program chair for the 1995 Convention in Orlando, Florida; member of the board of directors; and, for its conventions, coordinator for the Young Artist Competition and High School Soloist Competition, Myrna Brown International Scholarship coordinator, and the competitions coordinator.

As current NFA president Beth Chandler asserts, “The building blocks to virtually every significant layer in the NFA’s growth—from creating its competitions to chairing and conducting its conventions—have been in the capable hands of Angeleita Floyd almost since the organization’s beginnings.”

Floyd attributes her lifelong passion for music and teaching to her mother and former teachers Geoffrey Gilbert, Irene Maddox, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Charles DeLaney, Trevor Wye, and William Bennett, who continue to offer guidance and inspiration. She also expresses deep appreciation to the NFA for this extraordinary honor.