Flutist Flávia Valente, a former student of Metropolitana, was placed at the Philharmonisches Staatsochester Hamburg, in Germany, as Solo-Flautin. A new experience which should start next season. Until then, the 28-year-old Portuguese has been playing outside Portugal and is learning the German language.
“It has been incredible to have this preparation time, even to have time to learn the German language, and to recover from the shock – it still doesn’t seem real that I am going to work in Germany, which is the country where I always wanted to work”, Flavia tells us.
A student at the National Academy of Advanced Orchestral Studies (ANSO) until 2015, the flutist has been sharing the current season “between Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium”. “My contract with the Philharmonisches Staatsochester Hamburg doesn’t start until next season. But it is great because I already had a full schedule with freelance engagements. And that’s really amazing as preparation. Every week I end up playing with different orchestras, some new to me, and it’s been awesome because I always learn so much. I constantly feel musically inspired by my colleagues”, she adds.
The young woman recognises that it is a privilege to be playing without having to worry “with orchestras that have piccolo positions open, because it gives a lot more space to develop ideas in a relaxed way and to learn with what is happening around”.
Flávia Valente doesn’t hide the importance that ANSO represented in her artistic training. “My time at the Metropolitana was 100% focused on the flute. In that field it was fundamental, because it was there that I learnt the basics, which are the foundation of everything I have been developing”.
The flutist also praises the teacher Nuno Inácio, with whom she worked at the school. “It was important to have a teacher who motivated us to do all the tests possible, and it was with him that I developed the mentality of trying, even if I don’t believe I’m at the level (as I usually say, I’m not paid to decide whether I stay or not, so I don’t have to worry about that).”
But the former ANSO student refuses to look to Nuno Inácio as her master. And for the best of reasons. “The most important thing Nuno taught me is that he was not my master. He was an important teacher for my development. That’s because from the first year, he focused on forcing me to develop independence and critical thinking.” She continues, “In class I had new ideas, but early on I noticed that if I went to the exams to play only as he had taught, the result would not be as good. Two weeks before the exams he would stop teaching, and that’s when I would have to develop my own ideas. So, the fundamental thing I learnt is basically one of the most important things for a career (in whatever area) – to be independent, to value my opinions and defend them with conviction”.
Nuno Inácio does not forget this student who attended ANSO. “Flávia is an example of commitment, method and resilience”, he says, adding that the former student “always showed that she wanted to give everything in her power to grow and become the artist that she is today”.
“This job she has won sets her apart from her peers, highlighting a path that was always taken very seriously, on the basis of the pursuit of excellence. I am immensely happy for this achievement and wish her all the best in this new phase of her career”, concludes the professor.