Lisa Bost-Sandberg

Biography

Dr. Lisa Bost-Sandberg is a flutist, composer, and improviser deeply committed to contemporary music as well as its rich roots in the classical repertoire. In demand as a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed throughout the United States and Europe, including National Flute Association conventions, new music festivals (SEAMUS, EMM, Pixilerations, Spark, and SCI), and guest appearances at universities. She performs as principal flute of the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra, has a long-standing collaboration with pianist Éva Polgár, and has recorded on the Albany, GIA, and North Texas Jazz labels. Recent engagements include performing as a featured flutist-composer on the New York Flute Club’s “Solo Flute Spectacular” concert, serving as guest recitalist and adjudicator for the 2020 Seattle Flute Society Horsfall Competition, and performing Mozart’s Concerto in G Major with the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra. She is the bass flutist for the virtual film premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Oxygen for 12 flutes, presented by Carnegie Hall.

A dynamic and impactful teacher, Bost-Sandberg has taught masterclasses, presented lecture-recitals, and led workshops at numerous institutions and festivals. She is the Teaching Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of North Dakota and teaches at the International Music Camp. She has previously served on the faculties of the University of Mary, the University of North Texas, the University of Texas at Dallas, Clarke College, and the Great Neck Arts Center.

Her compositions have been performed at conferences of the American Trombone Workshop, World Saxophone Congress, North American Saxophone Alliance, National Flute Association, Society of Composers, and Iowa Composers Forum. Recent projects include Starling for flute quartet, commissioned by Elizabeth Robinson, and Strikingly for piccolo and fixed media, commissioned by Claudia Anderson as part of her “Glass Ceilings” commission and performance project. Chroma, a collaboration with artist and commissioner Marjorie Schlossman, is the subject of a short film by Mary Trunk and Caren McCaleb. Bost-Sandberg’s works have been honored as prize-winners and finalists in composition competitions of the National Flute Association, the Flute New Music Consortium, and the American Trombone Workshop.

She recently completed a term on the Board of Directors of the National Flute Association. She has also served the NFA as chair of the New Music Advisory Committee and as a member of the Archives and Oral History Committee. She is currently on the Board of the Schmitt Music Flute Gallery and is an Associate Member of the International Music Camp Corporation. 

A Montana native, Bost-Sandberg received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in flute performance with a related field in composition from the University of North Texas as a recipient of the prestigious Masters and Doctoral Fellowship. She is also a graduate of New York University (Master of Arts) and The University of Iowa (Bachelor of Music). Her primary flute instructors include Terri Sundberg, Elizabeth McNutt, Robert Dick, Tadeu Coelho, and Tamara Thweatt. Bost-Sandberg’s primary composition instructors include Andrew May, Christopher Trebue Moore, Robert Dick, and Lawrence Fritts. She studied the Alexander Technique with Käthe Jarka and Pedro de Alcantara. 

"Lisa Bost-Sandberg is one of the important composer-performers of her generation…[her] interpretations are infused with deep musicality, questing intelligence and a joyous spirit."  - Robert Dick