Named Best Musical Director of the 3rd International Gilbert & Sullivan
Festival, Florrie has music directed our productions of The Gondoliers,
H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, Patience, The Pirates of
Penzance, Princess Ida, Ruddigore, The Sorcerer,
Thespis, Trial by Jury, and The Yeomen of the Guard.
She was also Music Director of the Ardensingers' 2005 production of Utopia,
Limited. Florrie is pleased that with this production of The Grand Duke,
she will have conducted all 14 of the G&S operas - an unusual accomplishment.
She is well-known for her thoughtful interpretation of the G&S canon, with noted
international adjudicator David Turner calling her work "musical direction of a
very high order." Her G&S expertise goes beyond musical direction, as she was a
contributor to the revised edition of The Grand Duke published by Oakapple
Press in 2005 (http://www.lulu.com/content/111595). She began conducting the G&S
repertoire with the Ridgewood (NJ) Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, to which she
often returned as guest conductor. Other directing credits include the Ridgewood High
School Alumni Band; the Glen Rock (NJ) Pops Orchestra; the Allenberry Playhouse, a
professional theater in the Harrisburg area; and the world-premiere production of
Moll Flanders, a Broadway-bound musical. In addition to her conducting
activities, Florrie is currently the pianist/keyboardist for contemporary/praise
services at Temple Lutheran Church in Havertown, PA, and at St. Mark Lutheran
Church in Clifton Heights, PA. An accomplished composer with many premieres to
her credit, she has an output which includes settings of several of Gilbert's Bab
Ballads. For many years a professional violinist in New York City, Florrie studied
with famed concert virtuoso Ruggiero Ricci and later played with the North Carolina
Symphony Orchestra. She studied composition and violin at the Juilliard School and
holds degrees from Gettysburg College and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro,
where she was Assistant Director of the Collegium Musicum.
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