Floot Fire Faculty

Dr. Kimberly Clark is Woodwind Area Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. An active recitalist, Dr. Clark has performed across the United States and in Europe. Recently she performed an eight-city tour in Washington, Texas, and Florida. She is currently collaborating with pianist Vicki Seldon on a CD entitled Stolen Treasures: Transcriptions for Flute and Piano. Dr. Clark is frequently heard on KUHF radio in Houston.

Highly sought as a teacher and clinician, Kim has been a featured speaker, performer, and conductor at the National Flute Association's annual conventions in Albuquerque, Nashville, Las Vegas, New York, and Dallas; the Florida Flute Fair; the Texas Flute Society, and the Texas Music Educators Association in San Antonio.

Dr. Clark's interests are wide and varied. Her publications include a transcription of Ibert's Histoires for Flute and Piano (available soon from Leduc) and articles in Flute Talk Magazine and the Flutist Quarterly. She is an Andover Educator trainee working for certification in Body Mapping. In addition, Dr. Clark is pursuing certification for Irlen Syndrome screening. She hopes to conduct research in the affects of light perception problems in musicians and their implications in music reading and notation.

Dr. Clark is the director and co-founder of Floot Fire, a weeklong summer music program for young flutists. She is the former Flute Clubs Coordinator for the National Flute Association and the former Flute Festival Coordinator for the Houston Flute Club.

Dr. Clark holds degrees from the University of Houston and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Her teachers include Tim Day, Aralee Dorough, Byron Hester, Claire Johnson, Peggy Russell, and John Thorne.

Kim Knudsen attended Indiana University and the University of Illinois where she received a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance and Teacher’s Certification. She then returned to Houston and taught elementary music for nine years in the Alief ISD and junior high band for two years in Katy. At this time, she is teaching private lessons in the Spring Branch area and is a frequent clinician in the Alief, Katy and CyFair school districts. In the summer of 2005, Kim joined the faculty of Floot Fire at the University of Houston. In addition to teaching, she performs regularly in the Houston area and is enjoying her ninth season with Opera in the Heights. Seven years ago, Kim began playing Irish flute as a member of the bands Furagh Larq and Constant Billy. Although she doesn’t play Irish flute regularly at this time, she enjoys the occasional performances with Celtic musicians in the Houston area.

Éma Armanious is an acclaimed Houston Area Flute instructor, clinician, recitalist, and chamber musician. Many of her students achieve local recognition; several have competed and excelled at the national level and have won auditions at major music conservatories. Ms. Armanious is a recipient of the National Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award presented at the White House, June 2000, and has taught extensively in Houston. She earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degress in music performance from Houston Baptist University and the University of Houston, respectively, and has studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Aspen Music Festival, and Tanglewood Institute.

Amy Saxton Wiggs is a graduate of the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, where she earned her Bachelor and Master Degrees in Flute Performance, with honors, as a student of Albert Tipton, She attended the Aspen Music Festival for several summers, performing in various orchestral and chamber groups. Ms. Wiggs held the position of Second Flute with the New Orleans Symphony/Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra from 1990-1994. She has been a featured soloist with the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, the Bayou City Chamber Orchestra in Houston and the Fort Dodge Symphony in Iowa. Currently Ms. Wiggs free-lances and performs with the various arts organizations in the Houston area. She has a teaching studio and she is the owner/manager of Accent Chamber Music. Amy performs regularly with her flute quartet (flute, violin, viola, and cello) of which her husband, Steven Wiggs, is the cellist.

Lilia Gamez-Agard is a flute instructor, clinician, and free-lance flutist in the Houston area. She is a graduate of the Moores’ School of Music, where she earned a Bachelor Music Education and a Masters in Flute Performance. While at the University of Houston, Lilia studied with the late Byron Hester, Claire Johnson, and Sydney Carlson. She has also participated in several masterclasses, performing for Julius Baker, Gary Shocker, Brad Garner, Jonathan Snowden, and Patricia Morris. She was the winner of the Coastal Bend Flute Club young artist competition. Lilia currently resides in Richmond, Texas with her husband Ryan Agard (Director of Bands at Stephen F. Austin High School). They are owners of a photography business “Agard Photography.”

Emily Dofter Emily Dofter is a flute teacher, Mary Kay Consultant, and freelance musician in the Houston area.  She will graduate in May 2008 with her M.M. Music Education Degree from the University of Houston, where she studies flute with Dr. Kimberly Clark.  She received her B.M.E. in Music Education for flute and voice from The University of Tulsa, where she studied flute with Dr. Leonard Garrison.  Emily teaches flute lessons in Cypress Fairbanks ISD, where she previously taught Middle School Choir.  She has participated in masterclasses with Robert Dick, Jean Ferrandis, Goran Marcusson, Ian Clarke, Bonita Boyd, Judith Mendenhall and Helen Blackburn.  She has performed at Wildacres Flute Retreat, ARIA International Summer Chamber Music Academy, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.  Emily is an active member of Cantare´ Houston, a professional choral ensemble.  She plays flute in AURA, the contemporary music ensemble at the University of Houston.  Emily is a member of The University of Houston Flute Choir, which was a featured ensemble at the Florida Flute Fair and at the 2007 NFA Convention.  She has performed with the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra, and currently plays flute and piccolo in the First Baptist Church Orchestra.  Her flute quartet flutations performs regularly in the Houston area.

Jennifer Keeney has a heartfelt, enthusiastic and joyful approach to music and the flute. Currently she performs with the Trio Angelico, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, in solo recitals, as a studio musician and as a performer for educational and charitable events. Ms. Keeney teaches privately at her, Creative Flutist Studio, is a Lecturer at The High School for Performing and Visual Arts and Memorial High School in Houston, and gives Master Classes and Concerts throughout the United States. She received her education from The University of Michigan, Royal Northern College of Music in England, University of Southern California and The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Ms. Keeney was the Principal Flutist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the New World Symphony and has played with the Houston Opera, the Detroit Symphony and Minnesota Orchestras among others. She has performed in many summer music festivals such as the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, The Interlochen Music Festival, and The Colorado Music Festival. Her passion for music is not limited to one genre but explores the expression of sound in it's endless beautiful forms. She has two Solo Flute CD's and is releasing a third CD with her Trio in 2007.