Flutist Meerenai Shim is a founding member of the Blithe Duo (flute duo) and the New Arts Alliance, where she is also a co-artistic director. A passionate advocate of contemporary composition, Ms. Shim has independently commissioned three pieces from three different composers in 2010. The first work, Entrometido for flute and cello, a new composition commissioned from San Jose composer Noah Luna, is on Ms. Shim’s debut album titled, Sometimes the City is Silent, released in 2011. The second and third commissions engage Brooklyn composer Daniel Felsenfeld and Chicago composer Janice Misurell-Mitchell, respectively. Ms. Shim’s most influential flute teachers are Linda Lukas, Mary Stolper, Liisa Ruoho and Alexa Still. She studied orchestral conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and Eastern Music Festival, with teachers such as Paul Vermel, Murry Sidlin, and Sheldon Morgenstern. Ms. Shim received a Bachelor of Music degree in Flute Performance from DePaul University in Chicago and a Master of Music degree in Flute Performance from San Francisco State University. Ms. Shim’s book, Scale Studies for Beginner and Intermediate Flutists, published in 2007, has received praise from flute pedagogues and publications worldwide. Her teaching philosophy is influenced by studies in Body Mapping, Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais. As an Andover Educator trainee, she also incorporates the Body Mapping course, What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body, into her private flute teaching.