Instructor of Flute and Music History — Music
Dr. Heidi Keener enjoys a multifaceted career as a performer, teaching artist, and music director, bringing energy and creativity to each collaboration. She is currently a member of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony and has performed with orchestras and ensembles in the Midwest, including the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Third Coast Chamber Collective, Madison, Milwaukee, Central Wisconsin, Beloit-Janesville, Dubuque, South Dakota, Southwest Michigan, and Youngstown Symphony Orchestras. Keener was a quarterfinalist in the 2020 NFA Young Artist Competition and has placed in the COFA Young Artist, SEMFA Ervin Monroe, and NFA Piccolo Orchestral Audition Competitions. She was a winner of UW-Madison's 2022 Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition and Irving Shain Piano and Woodwind Duo Competition as well as WMU’s Concerto Competition in 2016.
Dr. Keener has held flute instructor appointments at UW-La Crosse, Western Michigan University, and UW-Madison as sabbatical leave/temporary replacement in addition to running private studios in South Central WI, Western MI, and Northeast OH. As an instructor and chamber music coach, she has taught for the UW-Madison Summer Music Clinic, UW-Madison Community Lesson Program, WMU High School Music Seminar, Kalamazoo Kids in Tune, Wisconsin Youth Symphony, and Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestras. She serves on the Wisconsin Flute Festival Competitions Committee and has taught guest classes, presented workshops, and adjudicated events at the Wisconsin Flute Festival, UW-Madison, UW-La Crosse, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater, Western Michigan University, and Youngstown State University. In 2019, she began working with the Madison Flute Club and was appointed as Co-Artistic Director for the MFC Adult Choir in 2023.
Keener earned a DMA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a Paul Collins Distinguished Fellowship recipient and holds performance degrees from Western Michigan University and Youngstown State University. Her primary teachers include Conor Nelson, Timothy Hagen, Martha Councell-Vargas, Kathryn Thomas-Umble, Jeanne Swack, and Heather Young-Mandujano.