Artistry, connection and collaboration are at the heart of flutist Rebecca VanDeWalker’s teaching and performance. She is the principal flutist with the Holland Symphony and has deep experience as a classical musician.

Professor VanDeWalker has performed with the Boston Philharmonic, New England Chamber Orchestra, New Life Symphony, St. Cecilia Chamber Orchestra, Holland Chamber Orchestra, Muskegon Chamber Choir Orchestra, Grand Rapids Civic Theater Orchestra, Community Circle Theater, New England Conservatory Philharmonia and Symphony Orchestras, Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Orchestra and Empire State Youth Orchestra. As a soloist and in collaboration with Hope College Department of Music colleagues and others, she has participated in the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck, faculty recitals on campus, other musical events in West Michigan and beyond.

Her goal as a flute instructor is to provide students with both the skills and encouragement that they need to develop their individual potential — in particular, their beautiful, resonant tone, technical proficiency, stylistic expression and kinesthetic awareness. She taught at Hope from 1998 through 2006 and again in fall 2014; she returned to the Department of Music in 2022. She previously taught privately and at other institutions in New York State, Massachusetts and elsewhere in West Michigan.

Her own teachers have included soloist Paula Robison, Boston Symphony flutists Lois Schaefer and Fenwick Smith, Eleanor Barnes of the Albany (NY) Symphony, and Darlene Dugan, director of the West Michigan Flute Association (WMFA) and former principal flutist of the Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Amarillo (TX) Symphonies. Additional private lessons were with Carnegie Mellon University professors of flute Jeanne Baxtresser (former principal flute of the New York Philharmonic) and Alberto Almarza.

Professor VanDeWalker has been involved with the WMFA since 1997. She plays frequently in performances by the WMFA Flute Orchestra and Great Lakes Flutes at the annual conventions of the National Flute Association.

Areas of Expertise

• Flute instruction and performance
• Flute literature and pedagogy

Education

• B.M., flute performance, New England Conservatory of Music, 1994

Outside the College

Professor VanDeWalker enjoys life with her husband of 30 years, Kent, and their three beautiful children, all of whom have been involved in worship arts and world missions. Her favorite interests include the art of floral arranging and design, hiking, traveling and visual art.