About Elizabeth

Experience

Elizabeth LaCoste is a professional flutist based in Southern California. She is an avid freelance musician, performing both live and recorded works for film, orchestra, chamber, and solo ensembles.

Most recently, Elizabeth worked with film composer. Max Mueller, and veteran Disney director, Aaron Blaise, for an animated short recorded at The Village Studios in Santa Monica (coming soon, Fall 2023!). Elizabeth is the former principal flutist of the American Youth Symphony, performing in venues such as Royce Hall at UCLA and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA. She has premiered as a soloist at the Hollywood Bowl, performing alongside celebrity musicians such as Lea Michele and Harvey Fierstein. And has performed and recorded for countless short films, albums, and original compositions across Southern California.

Elizabeth has 10+ years of teaching experience and has taught at many institutions across Southern California including East Whittier Middle School, St. John Bosco Highschool, Wildwood Summer Institute, Kennedy High School, Savanna High School, Mira Costa High School, and Laguna Hills High School. Elizabeth has appeared as a guest artist at Stratus Duo’s Summer Masterclass and as a panel member at Jim Walker’s Beyond the Masterclass. She has also appeared as an adjudicator for the San Diego Flute Guild Spring Festival Competitions.

Elizabeth received her Master of Music degree in Flute Performance from the University of California, Los Angeles where she studied with internationally recognized flutists and pedagogues Denis Bouriakov and Erin Bouriakov, and received cum laude honors. During her studies, she was a winner of the UCLA All-Star Concerto Competition where she performed Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for flute and orchestra. She could be seen performing as principal flutist in both the UCLA Philharmonia Orchestra and the UCLA Wind Ensemble, and has performed for the UCLA Conducting Symposium in summers 2018 and 2019.

In 2016, Elizabeth received her Bachelor of Music degree in Flute Performance from California State University, Long Beach where she studied with Dr. John Barcellona, and also received cum laude honors. During her undergraduate studies, she received several scholarships and rewards due to her musical talent and dedication and won the Bob Cole Conservatory Concerto Competition in her second year, performing Franz Doppler’s Concerto in d minor for two flutes with her colleague Kelly Catlin. She went on tour with the conservatory’s Wind Symphony to Seoul, South Korea in 2014 for their International Wind Band Festival, as well as to Cal Poly San Louis Obispo’s Wind Band Festival in 2016 as principal flutist.

Elizabeth’s primary teachers include Denis Bouriakov, Erin Bouriakov, Diana Morgan, John Barcellona, Toby Caplan-Stonefield, and Mary Predmore. Supplemental instruction provided by Jim Walker, Darrin Thaves, Benjamin Smolen, Seth Morris, and Rena Urso.