LESLIE
FLUTE
RICHMOND

Originally from the Nice region, Aurélie Verdier trained at the Academy of Music of Monaco while integrating the literary preparatory classes of the Lakanal high school in Sceaux. She then joined Cefedem-Sud in Aubagne and graduated from the University of Paris X Nanterre in modern languages and philosophy. She obtained the State Diploma of piano teacher in 2007.

Winner of the Turquois Foundation, SOGEDA and the Princess Grace Foundation, she specialized at the National Conservatory of Mexico, then for three years at the Aspen Music Festival and School in the United States. Her career was made with Bernard Zoccola, Florence Paumier and Virginia Weckstrom. She also receives advice from Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Johan Schmidt, and Hugues Leclère.

A passionate chamber musician, she is involved in various formations, with which she has played in many festivals such as: the International Music Festival of Menton, the Musical Meetings of Roquebrune Cap-Martin, Arts and Culture in East Var, Le Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, Les Moments Musicaux du Tarn, Nuits sous les Etoiles de Vallauris, La Cote Flute Festival in Switzerland... In 2016, she founded Du'Ostinato with Cuban flutist Michelle Rodriguez, a duo with which she explores the of the 20th and 21st centuries, and Latin American. In 2018 with this same duo, she was a finalist and winner of the Moments Musicaux du Tarn international chamber music competition, where she won the Public Prize.

Always curious about new experiences, she is a regular pianist-accompanist during workshops, masterclasses, or for vocal ensembles, and has also learned the baroque repertoire on harpsichord and spinet.

Particularly attracted by contemporary music, which she defends with fervor, she had the chance to work in collaboration with the composers of our time. She notably performed several creations, including the Overture-Charivari by Jean-Christophe Marti (solo piano, 2006), the Piezas Fantasticas by Leonardo Coral, Mexican composer (piano-violin, 2008), and Galicia by François Rossé (solo piano, 2012).

Interested in the link between music and the other arts, she likes to think outside the box and design original shows and concerts such as: "Le Carnaval des Animaux" for piano 4-hands and actress in 2017; “Belle Époque”, music and architecture (piano-flute, on the occasion of the European Heritage Days in Menton, 2018); “Chiaroscuro”, music and painting (piano-flute, during an exhibition by the painter Nicola Schmid on revisited works by Caravaggio, Sancta-Maria de Olivo Chapel, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, 2019); "Vivi felice", music and philosophy (concert-reading around Scarlatti, Italy, and the search for happiness, 2022, solo piano).

Teaching being an integral part of her musical career, she teaches piano, deciphering-accompaniment and initiation to pedagogy at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental de Boulogne-sur-Mer. She obtained the Certificate of Aptitude via the CNSM of Paris in 2021, and teaches regularly during internships and summer academies.