Flutelight Emerges with “Duets & Dahlias!”

by Barbara Ogar

Flutelight was created with the goal of creating community through music by presenting free and budget friendly Music Education opportunities, performances/masterclasses from stellar artists, and coupling everything with Community Service.  Flutelight was very active and then Covid prohibited live music/in-person group opportunities of listening, learning, and playing together.

On September 19, how happy we were to emerge with “Duets & Dahlias!” The program was held at the Starkweather Arts Center, in Romeo, Michigan and featured Hannah Hammel, Principal flutist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Sharon Sparrow, Assistant Principal flutist of the DSO. The guests enjoyed the 60th Annual Thumb Area Artists’ Exhibition and everyone went home with a vase of beautiful dahlias and a Flutelight cookie treat!

The program was so beautiful and engaging and musical and varied!

  • Telemann ~ Spirituoso from Canonic Sonata No. 2 in D Major
  • Telemann for Two!  Fantasia No. 3, arranged by Sharon Sparrow and Jeff Zook
  • Muczynski – Duo for Flutes, Op. 34
  • Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Smetana’s Dance of the Comedians arranged for 2 flutes by Liz and Mark Teplitsky
  • Loggins-Hull – Run-On for 2 flutes and electronics
  • Finale:  Doppler – Andante and Rondo
  • Encore:  Delibes – Flower Song, from Lakme.

Thanks to Rob Johnson and the Staff at Flute Specialists – always SO supportive of our flute community!

The event was sold out and filled with joy! It was the most beautiful way for us to emerge from our Covid cocoons! Butterflies were everywhere……..


Barbara Ogar is an active teacher and free-lance musician in Southeastern Michigan.  Locally, Barbara plays in the Rochester Symphony Orchestra and many pick up orchestras in the Detroit Metropolitan area.  She also enjoys performing with chamber music ensembles, combining flute with strings, harp, and guitar.  Barbara is a graduate, with honors, of Wayne State University, receiving a BM in Music Education.  Studio of Clement Barone.  

Barbara served as Assistant to the Director of the Galway Flute Festival in Switzerland for 12 years. Other Galway Workshops have taken her from the Hollywood Bowl, to New York City. Barbara conducted a 2,000 person flute choir in New York, for a National Flute Association Convention, where they entered the Guinness World Book of Records with the largest flute choir performance!

Barbara’s studio has a student flute choir which actively performs throughout the Detroit Metropolitan area for community events and benefits. They are keen on serving their communities with music, and have helped raised thousands of dollars for local charities. They performed with Sir James Galway and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, for their “Festival of Flutes” concert series, and with Marina Piccinini for DSO’s performance of Corigliano’s “Pied Piper Fantasy”, both under the direction of Maestro Leonard Slatkin. They have also performed frequently with jazz flutist, Alexander Zonjic.