Keith Underwood, recipient of the 2023 NFA Lifetime Achievement Award, is considered one of the foremost flute pedagogues of his generation, and an expert on breathing techniques as it relates to wind players. He resides in Yonkers, New York, and is on the faculties of New York University’s Steinhardt School, The New School – Mannes School of Music, and Queens College, the Aaron Copland School of Music. 

 

Keith Underwood has been an active and acclaimed flutist in New York musical life for three decades.  He has appeared extensively with the New York Chamber Symphony, the Orpheus Ensemble, the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the New York Philharmonic. Professor Underwood is solo flutist with the Parnassus and Musical Elements, Jazz Antiqu, the Arcadia Baroque Ensemble, Ufonia and the Riverside Symphony.  He has recorded with such diverse artists as Benjamin Verdery, Celine Dion, Kathleen Battle, Rod Stewart, Bobby McFerrin, and Anthony Newman. He can be heard playing the flute cadenza in the 1983 production of The Pirates of Penzance with Linda Ronstadt.

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Before COVID,  Underwood traveled internationally to perform and give masterclasses. He has worked extensively with flutists and musicians from many prominent orchestras in the US and abroad, including the Boston, Minnesota, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and New Jersey symphony orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra, and The Metropolitan Opera. Renowned as one of the most sought after flute teachers in the world, Professor Underwood is frequently asked to give masterclasses throughout the United States including Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, and Eastman.  Underwood did an enormous amount of online teaching during COVID and used the isolation time to tweak his methods. He collaborated with other musicians internationally via the Internet, including Israeli jazz flutist Hadar Noiberg.  

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Keith Underwood’s teaching has touched thousands of students, and he has left an indelible mark on many of them. No matter how good or bad you were, you’d come out sounding better. He has given many flutists hope and, ultimately, he makes playing flute fun again!