Of Romance and Fantasy - A Flute and Piano Recital

It's February, and romance is in the air. Come enjoy the season with musicians Sara Kornfeld-Sylla (flute) and Eileen Huang (piano), who will perform a program of Romances and Fantasies for flute and piano. The program features a world premiere of a Fantasy composed by Francine Trester. A reception will follow the recital.

Flautist Sara Kornfeld-Sylla is a FRAXA postdoctoral fellow at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. Dr. Kornfeld-Sylla, a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, completed her doctoral research at MIT in 2024. She studies how brain waves are changed by sensory experience and altered in neuopsychiatric disorders. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University (BU) in 2018 with a dual degree, triple major in Neuroscience, Flute and Oboe Performance. She received the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence (highest GPA in the graduating class) from BU’s College of Fine Arts, and in 2017 was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, the music honor society. At BU, she studied flute with Linda Toote and oboe with Mark McEwen, and presented junior and senior recitals on both instruments. Dr. Kornfeld-Sylla was a YoungArts winner in Classical Music/Flute in both 2014 and 2015 and has performed with the NSO’s Summer Music Institute Orchestra and the Nova Scotia Symphony. In 2017, she made her Jazz at Lincoln Center debut as the invited soloist for Society for Science and the Public’s Alumni Event. Throughout her doctoral studies (2018-2024), she was an MIT Emerson/Harris Fellow, performed with the MIT Wind Ensemble (MITWE), and studied flute with Elizabeth Klein, associate principal flute of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2021, Dr. Kornfeld-Sylla received the Richard and Jody Nordlof Award for her contributions to MITWE, and in 2022, she received the Gregory Tucker Memorial Prize for her contributions to the MIT music department. In 2024, she premiered Eric Ostling’s (3,2,1) Three Episodes for Two Flutes and Wind Ensemble in a student-teacher collaboration with Elizabeth Klein and MITWE. In her free time, she enjoys baking sourdough, cooking and playing tennis with her husband, taking walks with friends, and trying all the bubble tea spots in Greater Boston.

Pianist Eileen Huang is a frequent collaborator with the Boston-area’s finest instrumentalists and vocalists. Ms. Huang made her Rockport Chamber Music Festival debut alongside Boston Symphony Orchestra principal bass Edwin Barker and violinist Yevgeny Kutik, and appeared at the Tanglewood Music Festival with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, conductor James Burton, and BSO Associate Concertmaster Alexander Velinzon. Ms. Huang has also been a rehearsal pianist for the BSO, Emmanuel Music, and Boston City Singers. In 2010 she joined the music staff at MIT, serving as a piano instructor, collaborative pianist, coach, and interim chair of the piano program. Also an accomplished soprano, Ms. Huang has appeared as soloist with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Wellesley Choral Society, and Nahant Music Festival. Ms. Huang received her training at the Juilliard School and the Aspen Music Festival and School, where she studied with the late Herbert Stessin, and holds a degree in chemistry from MIT. Learn more at www.eileenhuangmusic.com.

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