Polly Meyerding, a native of Saint Paul, Minnesota,
earned her Bachelor degrees in Flute Performance and Music Education at the
University of Minnesota and the Master of Music degree and Performer's
Certificate at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
She has studied with many outstanding flutists of our era, including Thomas
Nyfenger, Julius Baker, Bonita Boyd, Julia Bogorad-Kogan, Sidney
Zeitlin and Alexa Still.
Polly has performed in the Spoleto USA Festival in South Carolina; the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy; the Schlosse Spiele Festival in Heidelberg, Germany; and has toured in France with a professional flute choir. Locally, she has played with the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, VocalEssence (formerly Plymouth Festival Orchestra), Bach Society, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Minnesota Composers Forum, Symphony of the Lakes, Dale Warland Singers, Evita, Schubert Club, Thursday Musical, and numerous other large and small ensembles. She and her husband, flutist Russell Dedrick, perform together as the Dedrick Flute Duo, and with cello as the Monarch Trio. The Arabesque Trio is made up of flute, harp and cello.
Formerly the President of the Upper Midwest Flute Association (UMFA), Polly teaches flute and conducts the Falcon Flute Choir at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. She also maintains a teaching studio in her home and is the creator and director of the Summer Flute Intensive and Flute Fling in St. Paul. She has conducted the Junior and Senior High Honors Flute Choirs, as well as the Flute Choir Reading Session at various UMFA Flute Fests. Polly has also been a member of the flute faculty at the 2006 and 2007 Lutheran Summer Music Programs in residence at Gustavus Adolphus College.