Musician in Residence

2025-2026 is the premier season for Polaris Flutes.  This group was founded to fill a need for flute ensemble performance opportunities for professional flutists on Boston’s North Shore. The members come from various career backgrounds, but all have vast performance experience including orchestras, community bands, chamber ensembles, mixed groups, pit orchestras for theatrical performances, teaching, and solo performing. 

The group’s mission is to provide not only the performance opportunities for the members, but to provide musical experiences for members of the north shore communities, including churches, senior living facilities, local events, special occasions such as weddings/funerals among others.  Our plan is to host and coordinate master classes for youths from middle and high school surrounding communities and give them opportunities to learn from, and occasionally play, with professional musicians. We will also be collaborating with various musicians from the South Church for some of our upcoming performances. 

Polaris Flutes are grateful for the South Church’s generous acceptance into the Musicians in Residence program and we consider it an honor and privilege to have their support for our efforts.   To give back to the South Church, the group will be performing during the upcoming year on multiple occasions and we invite the community to join us on this journey. 

“Amazing vocalist” Kathryn Findlen (Classical Voice of North Carolina) is noted for her dramatic performance of contemporary composition and for her artistic interpretations of Symphonic, Oratorio, Opera, and Chamber works. The mezzo has received The American Prize for Excellence in the Performance of New Music for her recording of Songs in the Rear View Mirror by Kenneth Frazelle, and has been awarded Classical Singer of the Year by the Austin Critics Table. Symphonic performances include The Requiem Mass of Verdi, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Mahler’s Second Symphony under the baton of Gerhard Zimmermann. Her commitment to contemporary classical music and multimedia performance has taken the mezzo to performances at the Eiteljorg Museum of Indianapolis, The North Carolina Museum of Art, The Calderwood Concert Series at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Findlen trained at The Brevard Music Center Opera Program, holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts, and a Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin. Researching the Role of the Creative Mindset in Leadership, Kathryn completed a Master of Commerce in Entrepreneurship at ESSCA Paris, and was a Women’s Scholar in Oxford University’s Postgraduate program for Organizational Leadership.

Findlen has served on the faculty of Southwestern University, founded the Kaleidoscope Chamber Music Series at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin, Texas, and has been presented in recital collaborating with harp, piano and guitar. In the oeuvre of French Chanson, Findlen has taken a particular interest in manuscripts of the French masters, studying at research libraries in the U.S. and The Bibliotèque National de Paris.

In her residency, Kathryn will be doing a variety of things, including leading workshops on vocal technique, audition preparation, wellness and singing, singing in retirement, as well as providing coaching sessions with members of our choirs. Findlen says, “South Church is alive with many groups for all ages and interests and supports programs in addition for the public. I’m excited to be a part of it!”

The mission of our Musician in Residence program is to provide space for local musicians to create (teach, write, and practice) and showcase (in worship, outreach/concerts, and educational workshops/masterclasses) their music in exchange for “in-reach” and “out-reach,” resulting in bringing people together through a common love of music in a safe and sacred space.

• The MiR program enables South Church to:
  Enhance music and the arts for people of all ages in a welcoming environment
• Expand and diversify musical and artistic offerings to engage listeners on a deeper level
• Promote musical and artistic offerings as an outreach to the greater community
• Foster unique communication and expression among those who love music
• Provide spiritual and educational experiences through sacred music

• The MiR program enables South Church to provide support to local artists by:
  Providing space to create, teach, rehearse, and showcase their work
• Offering access to instruments (e.g. Yamaha S7X concert grand piano & Bozeman pipe organ)
• Giving opportunities to collaborate with musicians and artists of various levels and experiences
• Sharing news of events and projects to our congregation and the greater community
• Mentorship by our professional musical staff

Questions? Contact Cathy Meyer, Minister of Music.