Phyllis Avidan Louke (b. 1954), an Altus Artist, serves as Music Director of Rose City Flute Choir, is principal flute with Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and Oregon Symphonic Band, freelances and is an active chamber musician in Portland, Oregon. Ms. Louke has taught privately since 1992, adjudicated for Solo Festivals at both the local and state level, is in demand as a flute clinician at the middle school and high school level, and is currently one of the band directors in the Lake Oswego School District's beginning band program at Lake Oswego Jr. High.  She has also appeared as a guest artist at flute festivals in Florida and New York and is scheduled to appear at events in Cleveland and Phoenix in 2008.  In addition, her articles have appeared frequently in the national magazines, Flute Talk and The Instrumentalist.  Ms. Louke graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara where she studied flute with Burnett Atkinson.

Currently President of the Greater Portland Flute Society (GPFS), Ms. Louke has served on the GPFS Board of Directors since 1991. During that time, she has produced events with James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Michel Debost, Trevor Wye, Robert Dick, Matthias Ziegler, Bernard Z. Goldberg, Patricia George, Nan Raphael, and Zart Dombourian-Eby, as well as several Northwest Composers Concerts and GPFS Members’ Recitals.

She performed with the National Flute Association (NFA) Professional Flute Choir in 1993-2008, as well as with the International Flute Orchestra (formerly the American Flute Orchestra) on their annual international tours since 1997. She also toured Provence and Dijon, France performing with the professional flute choir, Flutes of Boston, in 2002 and again in 2005 with the Florida Flute Orchestra. Ms. Louke played bass flute with the National Flute Choir on their ten ALRY Publications recordings including Over the Edge, Romancing the Flute, Christmas Flutes and High Altitude and on the International Flute Orchestra 2005 recording Serenity.

In addition to performing with the Professional Flute Choir, Ms. Louke has been an active performer and presenter at NFA Conventions. She conducted the Professional Flute Choir at the 2004 NFA Convention in Nashville, co-conducted the High School Flute Choir at the 2001 NFA Convention in Dallas, and performed her composition for alto flute and piano, Echoes in the Wind—A Native American Soliloquy on the Exhibitors Concert at the 2003 NFA Convention in Las Vegas and Blessings and Celebration for bass flute and piano at the 2007 NFA Convention in Albuquerque. In addition she has served as a panel member for sessions on Studio Policies at the 2001 and 2002 NFA Conventions and a presentation on Extended Techniques at the 2004 NFA Convention. She has also performed with various ensembles at NFA Conventions, including the Oregon Flute Ensemble, American Directors Flute Orchestra, International Flute Orchestra, National Flute Choir, Florida Flute Orchestra, NEC Metropolitan Flute Orchestra, Colorado Flute Orchestra, Flauto Badinage and Rose City Flute Choir.

Ms. Louke has been arranging for flute ensembles since 1990 and has composed original works, including: Suite Butterfly for Flute Quartet or Flute Choir (also on the National Flute Choir recording High Altitude), Une Chanson du Printemps, Shadowlands, Under the Big Top, Echoes in the Wind, Cloud Images, As Eagles Flew and the award winning Of Wizards and Witches for Flute Choir as well as Echoes in the Wind—A Native American Soliloquy (also on the National Flute Choir recording Silver), Castle in the Mist for alto flute and piano, Blessings & Celebration for bass flute and piano, and Reflections of Water for flute and piano. She has also created original pedagogical materials in Extended Techniques—Double the Fun (for two flutes) and Extended Techniques—Solos for Fun (for flute and piano).

Many of her works have been finalists in the annual National Flute Association Newly Published Music Competition, with Of Wizards and Witches a winner in 2006.  In addition, her composition Under the Big Top was awarded 2nd Place in the Hoff-Barthleson Music School Flute Club’s Composition Competition, and was premiered in Scarsdale, New York in 2000.  Ms. Louke has also been the recipient of annual ASCAP awards since 2004. Her compositions have been performed at the National Flute Association’s annual convention since 2000, as well as internationally, and many have been recorded by the National Flute Choir and other groups. Ms. Louke has studied composition with Tomas Svoboda. Her music is primarily published by ALRY Publications of Charlotte, NC.

Phyllis Louke is married to trombonist and chemical engineer Sam Louke, and they have two musical children, Marissa and Jeremy.