Known for her sparkling tone and sensitive, expressive musicality, Amanda Blaikie was appointed 2nd Flute of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2016 by Leonard Slatkin.

Amanda recently held the position of Acting Assistant Principal Flute during a portion of the 2023-2024 season, and will resume this position in April 2025. Previous to the DSO, Amanda held the position of Principal Flute with the Detroit Opera, Sarasota Opera, Miami City Ballet, and Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra.

 

Other orchestral experience includes performing with the New York Philharmonic on numerous occasions, including a Carnegie Hall performance, a Live from Lincoln Center television broadcast, and the 2010 Eastern / Western European Tour. She has also performed with orchestras including the Orlando Philharmonic, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Ann Arbor Symphony, New World Symphony, Boca Raton Symphonia, and Opera Tampa.

​

As a concerto soloist, Amanda has performed works by Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Devienne, and Ibert with orchestras including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Symphony Orchestra, Allegro Chamber Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra.

 

An avid lover of chamber music, Amanda is a core musician with Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings and performs frequently with New Music Detroit, Chamber Soloists of Detroit, Cut-Time Players, and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. She regularly presents chamber and solo recitals around the country. Highlights include performances at the 2017 and 2018 National Flute Association Conventions and Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. ​

 

Amanda is very passionate about teaching and is sought after as an orchestral excerpt and audition coach, as well as a private flute teacher. She was a flute faculty member at Oakland University (MI) for eight years, and was also on the flute faculty at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival (2023) and the Pacific Music Institute in Hawaii (2019). Amanda has presented masterclasses at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Eastern Michigan University, University of Akron, and the Hawaii Flute Society, among others. 

 

Recent editorial features include cover interviews and articles for Flute Talk (2019) and The Flute View (2021) magazines, as well as a podcast interview for the Bulletproof Musician (2020).

 

Amanda earned a Professional Studies Degree in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Robert Langevin. She received a MM in Flute Performance from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music where she studied with Christine Nield-Capote and Jenny Robinson, and a BA in Music from Principia College where she studied with flutist and pianist Dr. Marie Jureit-Beamish.

​

Amanda can be heard on the DSO's live webcasts:  www.dso.org/live and www.dso.org/replay