a service of the University of South Florida
THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2017-2018 43
Clay Ellerbroek
picked up his first
flute at the age of
13 in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, and
hasn’t put it back
down since. He’s
delighted audiences
in Tampa Bay since
2009, when he was
named principal
flutist for the The
Florida Orchestra.
His refined talent was forged at the Interlochen
Arts Academy and continued in Boston at the New
England Conservatory of Music, where he found his
mentors Leone Buyse and Paula Robison.
When The Florida Orchestra’s season ends every
spring, Ellerbroek performs at the Mainly Mozart
Music Festival in San Diego, California. He has
also performed with the San Diego Symphony,
Honolulu Symphony and Mladi Chamber Orchestra
in Los Angeles. At the request of Maestro Jahja Ling,
Ellerbroek performed as acting principal flute for
the San Diego Symphony’s 2005/2006 season, and
he toured China with the ensemble in 2013.
He has been featured in a recording for Bridge
Records of music by the composer Chinary Ung,
which made The New York Times’ list of Records of
the Year for 2009. Along with The Florida Orchestra
Principal Winds, Ellerbroek traveled to Cuba in 2011
as part of TFO’s historic cultural exchange with
the island nation and thrilled the Cuban people.
On those rare occasions when Ellerbroek isn’t
performing or practicing his instrument, he’s
known to compose culinary feasts in the kitchen
that delight your sense of taste as much as his
music delights your sense of hearing. His husband
of three years, Trevor Pettiford, certainly thinks so!
CLAY ELLERBROEK
Flute
/www.wusf.org