Canadian flutist Marsha Elliott-Edwards is an acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, and educator. Marsha holds a B.Mus. in Performance from the University of Toronto and a M.Mus. in Performance from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she studied with soloists Susan Hoeppner and Carol Wincenc respectively. Marsha also spent a transformative year in the Professional Winter Residency Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Her past teachers and mentors have included Julius Baker, Emmanuel Pahud, and Jeanne Baxtresser, among others. As a performer, Marsha has toured throughout Canada and the US and has been seen and heard on national television and radio.
As an educator, Marsha has taught and mentored students in a wide variety of settings: from community schools, guest residencies and university studios, to band sectionals, private one-on-one lessons and group flute classes. Most recently Marsha joined the University of Victoria’s School of Music for a year-long posting in 2024 where she worked with undergraduate and graduate students preparing for professional auditions, placements in school ensembles, and international competitions, to cite a few of her responsibilities.
Marsha is an alumna of the Victoria Conservatory of Music (VCM), and joined the Faculty in 2004. Marsha’s instruction includes private lessons, group instruction, adjudicating exams and recitals for post-secondary students in the Camosun Program and more. With students from 8 years old to 93, Marsha’s passion for music at any age is realized by her students’ active playing and participation in musical settings of all kinds including at the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival, performances at local care facilities, and even in online collaborations with other students, near and far.
In 2017 Marsha created, along with some musical friends, her innovative concert series, Salon d’Amis- “Music made by friends, for our friends”. Blurring the line between concert stage and audience, these concerts serve to allow the musicians to share their favourite music, ideas, and connections with each other and the audience. These concerts also serve the Victoria community by fundraising for important organizations such as the Mary Manning Centre, Rainbow Refugee, St. John’s Ambulance Service Dogs program, among others.
Marsha is the creator of The Big IDEA- an innovative performance project exploring the values and principles of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility. From safe spaces for all persons (studios, concert spaces, etc.) to innovative, interdisciplinary concerts beginning in 2024. The Big IDEA aims to enliven and elevate our collective voices as we are “Sharing our music and telling our stories”.
Marsha gratefully acknowledges and thanks the Lekwungen People, also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations communities – past, present, and future – for their stewardship, care, and leadership on these unceded lands upon which we are privileged to work, learn, create, and perform.