Erinn Frechette
 Flutist and piccolo player Erinn Frechette joined the Charlotte Symphony in 2002. Previously, she has also performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Kentucky Symphony and the Charleston Symphony.
Erinn began playing the flute when she was nine and went on to attend Broad Ripple Performing Arts High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. After high school, Erinn completed a Bachelor of Music degree at Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She is currently finishing a Doctoral degree at the University of Cincinnati as well.
Other accomplishments include winning third place in the Flute Talk Competition and becoming the only person in the history of the National Flute Association to win first place in both the Young Artist Flute Competition and Piccolo Artist Competition.
When she is not playing with the Symphony, Erinn enjoys reading, travel, cooking, biblical archeology, history, watching The Young and The Restless, and spending time with her husband, Martin House, and their dogs, Ginger and Moxie.
First year with the CSO: 2002
Education: Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University, Master of Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Doctorate of Music from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Featured performer at National Flute Association conventions in Kansas City and Charlotte, Florida Flute Association, South Carolina Flute Society, and Raleigh Area Flute Association.
Favorite concert experience: Bringing my son to see his first Lollipops concert.
Hobbies: Spending time with my husband and son, reading, travel, cooking, learning German.
Favorite thing about Charlotte: The city sits right between the mountains and the coast- we travel often to both places.
meet the musicians - TIMPANI
 Leonardo Soto
Leonardo Soto is Principal Timpanist. First taught by his father, a prominent percussionist in his native Chile, Leo holds degrees from the Universidad de Chile and Carnegie Mellon University and has played with numerous orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, and the Orquestra Filarmónica de Santiago.
Prior to coming to Charlotte, Leo served as Principal Timpanist of the Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit Opera house, for 6 seasons.
In his spare time, he enjoys playing soccer, tennis and running, along with fixing drums and designing timpani sticks with friend Jeff Luft from the Dayton Philharmonic. He is an endorser of Pro-Mark stick company.
meet the musicians - PERCUSSION
Peyton Becton
 Principal
percussionist Peyton Becton grew up in Morehead City and is one
of the very few native North Carolineans in the Charlotte
Symphony.
He was interested in the drums
from a very young age and began playing
at the age of eleven. Music was always a very strong interest
for Peyton, but it wasn't until college that he really began to
develop an interest in symphonic music.
Peyton earned his Bachelor of
Music Education degree from East Carolina University. He has
been the CSO's Principal Percussionist since 1977. Other
orchestras with which Peyton has performed include the Eastern
Philharmonic, the Greensboro Symphony and the North Carolina
Symphony. His favorite composers include Mahler, Prokofiev,
Stravinsky and Copland. In his free time Peyton enjoys
astronomy, cycling and tropical fish. |
A native of Canton, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Landon has served as principal flute of the Charlotte Symphony since September 2006. She received her master's degree from Rice University in 2005 where she worked with Leone Buyse, and her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 2001 where she studied with Walfrid Kujala and Richard Graef. In between degrees, Liz spent two years in Spain where she attended the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya as the first American student of Vicens Prats, associate principal flute of the Orchestra de Paris. 
Second Flutist Amy Whitehead joined the Charlotte Symphony in 1997. Before coming to Charlotte, Amy received her Bachelor of Music degree in flute from Duquesne University in Pittsburg. She also went on to earn her Master of Music degree and a performer’s certificate in chamber music from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Institute of Chamber Music.
