My name is Nancy Wiecki (vee-ET-skee), and currently I am the principal flute player with the MFSO. Since 2002 I have served secretary on the MFSO Board of Directors. I have been a member of the orchestra since 1995, not long after I moved here to begin my current job as a high school music teacher at St. Thomas More High School.
I have always loved playing music! I started on piano, added flute a few years later, and added saxophone during high school so that I could play in jazz band. During my senior year of high school, four of my classes were music: band, jazz band, choir and show choir. It doesn’t matter the instrument; I just love to perform. That love of music led me to a career in music. I have a B.A. in Music Education from the College of St. Teresa in Winona, MN and a M.M. in Music Education from Northwestern University. I also did post graduate work in flute performance at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.
Currently, in addition to the MFSO, I am a member of the Gutekunst Flute Choir and have been playing 3rd flute/piccolo with the Cardinal Stritch Community Orchestra. I look forward to when we can go back to performing again!! I always enjoy playing in the “pit” for musicals; but one of my favorite memories performing is when the MFSO performed The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. I was looking forward to performing Peter and the Wolf with the MFSO before last season was abruptly ended.
Career Highlights
A few highlights of my career: in 2004 the Milwaukee Civic Music Association awarded me their Milwaukee Teacher of the Year award, after being nominated by a group of my students and their parents; in 2010 I was awarded one of the Herb Kohl Teacher Fellowship awards; and in 2013, after being nominated by a former student who was graduating, the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) awarded me their Excellence in Teaching award.
When not performing, I enjoy attending a variety of live performances. The most memorable concerts include hearing the French flute player Jean-Pierre Rampal at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis; seeing Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom of the Opera at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and hearing the National Symphony Orchestra providing live accompaniment for one of the Harry Potter movies at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.
Music is certainly a big part of my life, but when I have time, I love spending time with family and friends, kayaking, traveling (especially to Lake Superior!) and reading.