Abi Middaugh was appointed Second Flute of the Flint Symphony Orchestra in November of 2024, under music director Enrique Diemecke. Abi currently attends the University of Michigan under the instruction of Amy Porter, and performs with the Symphony Band and University Symphony Orchestra at the School of Music, Theater, and Dance.
As a soloist, Abi was recently named a Finalist in the University of Michigan's Undergraduate Concerto Competition, and she is the 1st place winner of the 2024 Florida Flute Association College Young Artist Competition and the 2024 Great Lakes Flute Festival Darlene Dugan Young Artist Competition. She also
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performed with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in November of 2022 after winning their 2021 Young Artist Competition. Abi has performed in masterclasses for Marianne Gedigian, Demare McGill, Mark Sparks, Nadine Asin, Kelly Zimba, Nancy Stagnitta, Jeff Zook, and Sharon Sparrow, among others.
Abi is an alum of the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Round Top Festival Institute, the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, where she participated in their European tour, and the Interlochen Arts Camp. Abi has also performed with University of Michigan's Philharmonia Orchestra, Concert Band, and Eastern Michigan's University Wind Symphony. She has played in the opera pit orchestras of University of Michigan's productions of Don Giovanni and Orpheus in the Underworld. She regularly works with conductors Jason Fettig, Jayce Ogren, Courtney Snyder, and Kenneth Kiesler at the University of Michigan.
Abi is passionate about bringing new works to life. She has been involved with premieres of Nkeiru Okoye's "When the Caged Bird Sings", a fusion of opera, oratorio, and theater, Jude Vaclavik's Bifrost, Griffin Candey's concerto for tenor saxophone, Double Aviary, Ryan Lindveit’s Bass Clarinet Concerto written for Andrew Koeppe of the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Hansol Choi's "Sahm-Doh" for orchestra, and the premiere recording of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “The Atonement”. She enjoys working with her peers in the composition department, some of whom have written pieces for her.
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Abi is also the co-founder of an arts equity organization called The Intermezzo Fund, along with violist Alondra Damian-Noyola. Started in 2024, IMF awards scholarships to highschool musicians in Southeast Michigan based on financial need in order to cover the "invisible" costs of pursuing music, like application fees, accompanist fees, buying sheet music, and instrument maintenance. Their initial campaign, including their Kickoff Benefit Concert, raised almost 5 times their original goal, and they were able to award six high schoolers with scholarships of $250 each. Read more here.
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Besides Amy Porter, Abi's mentors include Hannah Hammel of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, David DiGiaccobe of the Harrisburg Symphony, and Kelly McDermott, her former teacher whom she studied with for fifteen years prior to her undergraduate studies.
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Abi plays a Muramatsu DS flute and a Hammig piccolo. She is from Ypsilanti, Michigan, and also enjoys running, weight lifting, thrift shopping, baking, and spending time with her friends and family.
