Hi there!

I’m Caitlin, a Montreal-based flutist who enjoys organizing solo and chamber performance projects and teaching aspiring flutists. Exploring how music connects the personal to the universal and sharing those discoveries with audiences and students alike is my passion. My performance projects have included Caitlin’s Cozy Concerts, solo recordings, and various small ensembles with close friends. I fell in love with teaching in 2016 and have been offering private flute lessons in my home in NDG (and online around the world!) as well as workshops in high schools around Montreal since then. I’m also on the board of the West Island Youth Symphony Orchestra as a way to give back to the community that nurtured my love of music in my teens.

You can even take a look at my official credentials!

take a look at my cv
take a look at my bio

But there's a more interesting story
that I'm sure you'd like to read - here it is:

I call myself a Montreal-based flutist and flute teacher who prioritizes empathy and joy in everything that I do. I find joy in forging my own unique path as a performer in the classical music field, and I treat my students with the empathy that is so often lacking in traditional methods of music pedagogy.

It was a long and winding road that got me to this mindset, and along the way, I had to confront two main emotions that held me back for years: fear and anxiety. I know I’m not alone in experiencing these feelings as a musician (and a human!) so I hope that by telling my story, I help others feel more empowered and less alone.

I took up the flute at nine years old after trying it out for my elementary school’s after-school band program and I made a sound right away, which is rare. I hadn’t enjoyed any of the other activities my doting parents signed me up for (like ballet and soccer) and I was excited to not have to really talk to anyone while playing the flute. I was a very shy child. 🙂

However, even though I knew music was an artistic endeavour, I subconsciously treated it like any other school subject. In math, you get 100% when you answer 2 + 2 = 4. That led me to believing that there was a similar “right” answer in music; if you play the correct notes and rhythms, you should get an A+. But that never felt true; I knew there was more to it than that but I spent years never being able to crack the (invisible) code. I went to music school, I got decent music grades (especially when it came to theory, which involves a fair amount of math!), but I was always playing from a place of fear. “Am I as interesting as [insert any other flutist here]? Is my interpretation good enough? Did I finally find the right way to play this piece?!”

My thinking was black and white in more ways than one. When I was having a good sound day or felt confident in my playing, I was a “good flutist”. When I was having a bad sound day or felt uncomfortable in my playing, I was a “bad flutist”. I didn’t fully comprehend how much experimenting and creativity and self-reflecting should really be involved in playing an instrument and being a musician. Shouldn’t I just be naturally good at the flute because I made a sound the first time I tried it?! (Spoiler alert: “good” and “bad” are terrible and irrelevant metrics of artistry.)

This constant fear that I wasn’t good enough (whatever that means) was combined with my other nemesis, anxiety, both in my general life and onstage. My particular brand of anxiety was focused on my body rather than the notes on the page. I was constantly worried that my stomach would hurt or that I’d feel nauseous or lightheaded or lethargic and that I’d need to run offstage while performing. Even though I never ended up having to leave the stage during a performance, the worries persisted.

I did have many lovely performance experiences throughout the years, but my anxiety tainted every musical moment I had. Whether it was just a little bit or a lot, it was always present. I almost quit music entirely one semester before graduating from my Bachelor’s degree because I just couldn’t handle the mental and emotional burden I’d placed on myself. My love of the classical music field kept me going, which I’m very thankful for, but I wouldn’t wish this amount of internal adversity on anyone.

Thankfully, two life-changing experiences occurred in 2024 that made me the teacher, musician, and human I am today. I had a set of therapy sessions funded by The Artists’ Foundation wherein a focus on breathing awareness, meditation, and nervous system regulation helped my body deal with my anxiety. Later in the year, I came upon Chelsea Tanner’s advice on audition preparation, which focused on acting like the person you want to be (not the person you have been in the past), pulling from experiences and people who make you feel good, and creating thought ladders to believe the thoughts that will help you the most.

Since then, my teaching has become more holistic.
My students and I discuss how our mental and emotional frameworks impact our playing, because we are full human beings and bodies, not just “flutists”.

My own playing has become more free.
I make conscious artistic decisions about the music I am working on that make me feel inspired and excited, because there is no one “right way” to play any one piece.

My life has become richer.
I believe that I can handle anything that comes my way, because that’s always been true, despite what my anxiety has always told me.

I am at peace, I am content, and I am fulfilled.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey - I can’t wait to discover yours!

And now, let’s play favourites!

I have always been interested in more than just the flute and classical music, and you can learn a lot about a person from their favourite things. So here are mine, in no particular order!

    • The Phantom of the Opera

    • Wicked

    • The Sound of Music

    Honourable mentions: Les Misérables, SIX, Sweeney Todd, Legally Blonde, Chicago, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, West Side Story

    • Aryna Sabalenka

    • Daria Kasatkina

    • Leylah Fernandez

    Honourable mentions: Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Karolina Muchova, and most other top players!

    • Please Like Me

    • Heartstopper

    • Normal People

    Honourable mentions: Outlander, Bridgerton, Broad City, The Americans, My Mad Fat Diary, Fleabag, I May Destroy You, The O.C.

    • Pride & Prejudice

    • Aftersun

    • Challengers

    Honourable mentions: Faraway, In the Mood for Love, Coco, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Clueless

    • The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

    • Run Towards the Danger by Sarah Polley

    • Solitaire by Alice Oseman

    Honourable mentions: Her Body and Other Parties, Fun Home, The Rachel Incident, The No-Show, The Vanishing Half

    • Emmanuel Pahud

    • Jasmine Choi

    • Ariane Brisson

    Honourable mentions: Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jeanne Baxtresser, Clara Andrada de la Calle, Laurel Zucker, Chelsea Tanner, and too many others to name!

Now that you know more about me,
you can confidently click one of these buttons!

I want to study with you!
I want to watch you play!