Lyric Duo

The Ohio University Lyric Duo

The Lyric Duo features the collaborative talents of Alison Brown Sincoff, flute and piccolo, and Gail Berenson, piano. Although separated now by nearly 1,000 miles, Alison (current faculty) and Gail (faculty Emerita) are happy to partner in recital together again. Both of these talented and extremely active musicians are highly recognized in their respective disciplines on both a national and international level. After numerous successful engagements, in 2004 Ms. Brown Sincoff and Ms. Berenson decided to officially form the Ohio University Lyric Duo, recognizing their mutual respect for each other’s musical contributions and the positive energy achieved in their performances together. In addition to their recital performances, they are frequent master class and workshop presenters.

Alison Brown Sincoff

About flutist, Alison Brown Sincoff

Alison Brown Sincoff, Associate Professor of Flute, Professor of Flute, joined the Ohio University faculty in September 1997 and was named the Ohio University School of Music’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 2009. Brown Sincoff frequently performs with Professor Emerita, Gail Berenson (piano), as founding members of the Lyric Duo, and with Athenia, a wind trio featuring the collaborations of additional faculty at Ohio University-Dr. Michele Fiala, oboe and Dr. Matthew Morris, bassoon.

Brown Sincoff is a featured soloist in a CD recording of Joel Puckett’s The Shadow of Sirius with the Ohio University Wind Symphony and Dr. Andrew Trachsel, conductor (2012). She has also recorded Henk Badings’ Concerto for Flute and Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. John Climer, former conductor for the OU Wind Ensemble (2001). In 2009, a performance of Lukas Foss’ Renaissance Concerto for Flute and Orchestra with the Ohio University Symphony Orchestra, Steven Huang, conductor, was also a highlight of Professor Brown Sincoff’s campus performance engagements. She thoroughly enjoys working with the School of Music’s talented faculty.

Regionally, Brown Sincoff performs with PANdemonium4, a flute quartet of teacher-performer professionals, representing a diverse group of universities within the state of Ohio. Brown Sincoff also maintains frequent engagements as a substitute orchestral and chamber musician with the Columbus (OH) and West Virginia Symphony Orchestras.

On a national level, Brown Sincoff collaborates with university flute studios throughout the United States. She has performed at the National Flute Association’s annual flute convention, and has served as a performer/presenter, competition adjudicator and member of the Board of Directors (2011-2013) for this organization. Select flute festival invitations include the Arizona Flute Festival, Central Ohio Flute Association’s Flute Festival, Flute Society of Kentucky Flute Festival, Northeast Ohio Flute Association’s Flute Festival, and the West Virginia University Flute Fling. Additional music conference appearances include the Collegiate Band Directors National Association’s North Central Division Conference, the International Double Reed Society, Music Teachers National Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society.

Internationally, Brown Sincoff has performed and given masterclasses in Trieste, Italy, at the Conservatorio di musica Giuseppe Tartini (2017) and to Argentina as a part of a faculty exchange program with Ohio University and the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza and the Conservatorio Nacional de Música y Artes Escénicas of Buenos Aires (2003). Brown Sincoff returned to Mendoza in 2011, at the invitation of Pablo Salcedo, as a festival performer and clinician for World Flutes Festival III.

Laureate of several national and international competitions, including: first prize of the 1995 National Flute Association’s Orchestral Excerpts Competition (Orlando); first prize of the 1996 NFA’s Piccolo Artist Competition and third prize of the Young Artist Competition (New York); and semifinalist in the 1999 Myrna Brown Flute Competition (Dallas). In July of 1997, Brown Sincoff was one of two Americans selected to perform at the 4th International Flute Competition in Kobe, Japan.

Brown Sincoff completed doctoral studies in flute performance from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. She holds the Master of Music degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois. Her principal teachers were Bradley A. Garner, Jack Wellbaum, John Bailey, Alexander Murray, and her father, Robert H. Brown.

Ms. Brown Sincoff performs on a 10k Brannen Brothers flute, an Altus alto flute, and a Wm. S. Haynes piccolo.