Virginia Jane Hudson is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 flautist

Flautist

A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...

 and teacher. She teaches in the Fort Smith

Fort Smith, Arkansas

Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...

 area and serves instructor of flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 on the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith faculty.

Education

Hudson began her musical education at Dover High School in Dover, Arkansas

Dover, Arkansas

Dover is a small town in Pope County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,329 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Russellville Micropolitan Statistical Area.- Geography :Dover is located at ....

. She continued her training at Arkansas Tech University

Arkansas Tech University

Arkansas Tech University is a comprehensive regional institution located in Russellville, Arkansas, United States. The university offers programs at both baccalaureate and graduate levels in a range of fields. As of 2004, the University also operates a small satellite campus in the town of Ozark...

 in Russellville, Arkansas

Russellville, Arkansas

Russellville is the county seat and largest city in Pope County, Arkansas, United States, with a population of 27,920, according to the 2010 Census. It is home to Arkansas Tech University and Arkansas Nuclear One, Arkansas' only nuclear power plant...

, in 2001. While at ATU, she studied flute with Karen Futterer. Hudson graduated magna cum laude

Latin honors

Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...

in 2005 with a bachelor of arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in music with a minor in English. After graduating she spent an additional year at Arkansas Tech working on a graduate degree in English. In 2006 she accepted a scholarship from the Longy School of Music

Longy School of Music

The Longy School of Music of Bard College is a conservatory located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston...

 in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

, where she studied with world-renowned flautist and teacher Robert Willoughby.

Teaching

During the summer of 2008, she accepted an appointment to the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith

University of Arkansas - Fort Smith

The University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, known also as UAFS, is a public, co-educational, four-year university. It is one of 11 campuses that make up the University of Arkansas System and is located in Fort Smith, Arkansas...

 performance faculty. Currently, her duties include teaching the flute studio and Music Appreciation courses. She also teaches for the UAFS Preparatory Academy of the Arts and maintains a sizeable private flute studio.

Performing

Hudson is principal flautist of the River Valley Community Band and plays with the Fort Smith Symphony. She can often be heard with the Garrison Wind Trio and with the Fort Smith Chorale. She served as principal flautist for the Russellville Festival Chorale for four years. While at the Longy School of Music

Longy School of Music

The Longy School of Music of Bard College is a conservatory located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston...

, she performed with the Lowell House Opera Orchestra at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in a production of Strauss

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...

's Der Rosenkavalier

Der Rosenkavalier

Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...

. Hudson plays on a Powell

Powell Flutes

Verne Q. Powell Flutes Inc. has been a leading producer of professional flutes and piccolos since 1927. The company produces handmade musical instruments in wood, silver, platinum, and gold.-Verne Q. Powell:...

 Custom Handmade flute with an Aurumite headjoint.

New music

Virginia is adamant about promoting new music for flute. She has commissioned and performed works by Boston based composer Brian John. In 2009, she will be heard premièring the much anticipated Concerto for Flute and Wind Ensemble by Arkansas based composer Joshua Reed. She has worked extensively with Reed on numerous other works which will be performed at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and at the University of Central Arkansas

University of Central Arkansas

The University of Central Arkansas is a state-run institution located in the city of Conway, the seat of Faulkner County, north of Little Rock and is the fourth largest university by enrollment in the U.S. state of Arkansas, and the third largest college system in the state. The school is most...

 in the coming year.

Professional affiliations

• Sigma Alpha Iota
  Sigma Alpha Iota
  Sigma Alpha Iota , International Music Fraternity for Women. Formed to "uphold the highest standards of music" and "to further the development of music in America and throughout the world", it continues to provide musical and educational resources to its members and the general public...
  
  
• Alpha Chi
• Sigma Tau Delta
  Sigma Tau Delta
  Sigma Tau Delta is an international collegiate honor society for students of English. It presently has over 800 active chapters located in Europe, the Caribbean, the United States, and 1 chapter in the Middle East , with more than 1,000 faculty sponsors...
  
  
• National Flute Association
  National Flute Association
  The National Flute Association , is the largest organization for flutists in the world. It is an association in the United States.It was founded by Mark Thomas.-External links:*...