Registration is open for Music Suite 408 in Peru’s Summer Flute Retreat

Registration is open for the 23rd annual Summer Flute Retreat and Mini Camp.

The camp will run June 18-24 at the Congregational Church of Peru and sponsored by Music Suite 408 and the Illinois Valley Flute Ensemble. 

Partial scholarships are available for flutists and all ages and ability levels including adult players are welcome to attend. 

Daily schedule for all day participants will be 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and mini camp 1 to 4 p.m. with the Summer Flute Showcase set 6 p.m. Thursday, June 22, at Starved Rock Lodge and the final participant recital at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, June 24 at the Congregational Church, 1431 Fourth St. Both are free and open to the public. Download registration materials at www.408fineartsfactory.com under the more caption or contact Sue Gillio, coordinator at 815-223-4408 or phloot1@aol.com.

Sue Gillio, Gerald Carey, Ellen Huntington, Natalie Lindig and Anne Badger make up the summer Flute Retreat faculty.

Gillio is the flute instructor at Illinois Valley Community College, owner of Music Suite 408 in Peru and director of the Illinois Valley Flute  Ensemble. She received her BA and MA from Western Illinois University in flute performance where she studied with Gerald Carey. She is principal flute with the Illinois Valley Symphony and has performed in the Quad City Symphony, Heartland Philharmonic, Knox-Galesburg Symphony, DuPage Symphony and Peoria Symphony. She was a featured soloist with the Northwest Indiana Youth Symphony, Illinois Valley Symphony, IVCC Wind Ensemble and Illinois Valley Youth  Symphony. She traveled to Italy (1998, 2004) as part of the Rome Festival orchestra. Gillio serves on the executive board of North Central Illinois ARTworks, is a member of the Chicago Flute Club and National Flute Association and is on faculty at flute camp in Princeton, New Jersey. She was awarded the 2014 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Illinois Small Business Development Center and was an OMNI Honors award winner for excellence in music in 2018.

Carey is mostly retired, and lives in Glen Ellyn. Before retirement he was principal flute of the Quad City for 29 years. He has also been principal flute of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the New Orleans Summer Pops Orchestra, the Knox-Galesburg Symphony, the Eastman Symphonic Wind Ensemble (under the direction of  Frederick Fennell) and the Eastman Philharmonia (under the direction of Howard Hanson). He also has played with several other notable philharmonics and symphonies. He retired from Western Illinois University where he was professor of flute and a founding member of the Camerata Woodwind Quintet. Despite being retired, he still teaches flute.

Huntington enjoys a career as a soloist, teacher and orchestral and freelance musician. She is second flute with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and  Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, Ellen has performed at venues such as the Kennedy Center, the  Chicago Cultural Center and several National Flute  Association Conventions. She is on the faculty of North Central College in Naperville and North Park University in Chicago. She joins harpist Lillian Lau as a founding member of the Lyrebird Ensemble, a flute and harp duo devoted to performing works composed exclusively for that instrumentation.

Lindig is a graduate of the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts at Illinois State University earning a bachelor degree in both music education and flute performance. Lindig teaches at Putnam County Elementary and Primary School in Granville/Hennepin as the kindergarten through fifth grade general music teacher, and the fifth grade beginning band director. Additionally, she teaches the flute class at Music Suite 408. She has been an instructor at Smith Walbridge Drum Major Clinics for the past three summers. At ISU, she was a member of the Big Red Marching Machine, a member of the top collegiate concert band and Illinois State University Wind Ensemble. She was recognized with the Charles Bolen Music Faculty Scholarship. She plays with the Illinois Valley Wind Ensemble, Illinois Valley Flute  Ensemble and sings with the United Church of Christ’s Choir. Lindig joined the SFR staff in 2022.

Badger received her bachelor of arts from Oberlin College in music and English and a master of arts from Yale University. She studied organ with Richard Litterst, piano with Donald Walker, Minka Roustcheva and Wilbur Price. Badger was a freelance pianist and  specialist in early music in New Haven, Connecticut and the New York metropolitan area. She served as the professor of English at Bucknell University, with a field specialization in 18th Century British literature, and with particular interests in the interrelations between the arts. She holds the position as the organist at the First Congregational Church UCC in Ottawa and maintains a private piano and organ studio. She is working on a book in the field of architectural history titled “Alexander J. Davis, American Architect” based on the David historical archives in New York City, to be published by Mount Ida Press.

Music Suite 408 opened in 2012 with six educators and 80 students. The enrichment center of the Illinois Valley now also includes the Westclox Fine Arts Factory, Paintbox Gallery, Music Suite Annex all under the 408 Fine Arts Factory umbrella, and now has 26 educators, more than 500 students and 10,000 square-foot space offering music instruction, art lessons and group classes, Chess Club, Fly Tying Club, Boppin Tots (Age 18 months to 4 years old), outreach master classes, camps and workshops. There also is a 2,200-foot multi-purpose space that can be rented for private classes and events. Go to www.408fineartsfactory.com for more information.