Amanda Pond enjoys an active career as a flutist and teacher. As an orchestral flutist, she currently performs with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, and the Danville Symphony Orchestra.
Amanda is the Instructor of Flute at Millikin University, where she teaches applied flute, flute choir, flute methods and through the Millikin Community Arts Academy. Since Fall 2020, she also teaches at the University of Illinois Springfield, where she teaches applied flute, and directs the UIS Flute Choir. Previously, she has taught students of all ages in her private studio, and at the Conservatory of Central Illinois.
As an avid chamber musician, Amanda can be heard frequently with duo partner and harpist Julia Jamieson, with the Millikin University Faculty Quintet and Trio, and in various groups with Illinois Symphony Orchestra鈥檚 Sips and Sounds, Around the Town, and Sunday at Six programs.
As a Baroque Flutist, she has played with Bach Society Houston and as a soloist with Concerto Urbano. She has performed in period chamber ensembles and has collaborated frequently in concert with harpsichordist Charlotte Mattax.
Recently, Amanda performed as a soloist with the Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra, the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, and at the inaugural Five Cities Baroque Festival. She was featured with marimbist Aaron Villarreal in the Millikin University Faculty Recital Series program By the Sea. She was also a Baroque flute soloist at the 25th anniversary concert of Concerto Urbano.
Amanda received both her B.M. and M.M. in Flute Performance at the University of Illinois, where she studied with Alexander Murray. She also studied at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, where she was the recipient of the Chancellor鈥檚 Scholarship and the Graduate Woodwind Quintet Fellowship. While in graduate school, she won second place at the National Flute Association鈥檚 annual Orchestral Audition Competition.