​Debra Silvert

Critically acclaimed for her "full and sunny, golden tone," flutist Debra Silvert has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, delighting audiences with her consummate interpretive ability and warm, engaging stage presence. An enthusiastic champion of American music, she has both commissioned and premiered new literature for the flute.  Silvert was honored to present the New Composers’ Concert of the Bar Harbor (Maine) Music Festival two years running; first as flutist of the dynamic Duo Sequenza with classical guitarist Paul Bowman, and once again when she presented a program of new solo works for flute, accompanied by pianist Daniel Surma.

After a long hiatus during which Silvert homeschooled her four children, she and Bowman have resumed their collaboration and are concertizing once again as Duo Sequenza, well known for their virtuosic, audience engaging programs featuring contemporary music for flute and classical guitar.  Silvert and Bowman formed Duo Sequenza in 1988, winning a “Concerts Atlantique” European Debut Concert at the Palais de L’Athenee in Geneva, Switzerland in 1990 where they gave the foreign premieres of works by important American composers such as Robert Beaser and Ned Rorem.

From 1994 until 1999, Silvert was Instructor of Flute at Valparaiso (Indiana) University, where she also coached the student woodwind chamber ensembles and developed and conducted the university flute choir.  Her private teaching studio, The Flute Academy, was well renowned in Northwest Indiana for many years, producing prize-winning young flutists. 

A native of New York State, Silvert did not begin her study of the flute until age 16, following her involvement with juvenile authorities for habitually running away from home.  Her interest in music soon became her all-consuming passion. Silvert’s assiduous practice habits and diligent private study ultimately led to her endorsement as a soloist on the Indiana Arts Commission’s Presenter Touring Program, as well as a university faculty appointment, despite all odds, for a former juvenile delinquent and 'at-risk' youth.

“Silvert has a pure, silken sound, and technical command of her instrument that can’t be faulted.”
-Arts Indiana Magazine 

“Silvert played with a long, cohesive line that sounded as though it had been spun…truly a gem of a flutist."        

-The LaPorte Herald Argus