Beethoven Moonlight on Flute

Beethoven’s Moonlight on flute, or more precisely “Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2” is an arrangement completed by Michele McGovern and Melody Lord during their 12 year partnership. During their years working together, they also finished 6 different arrangements for Carmen for flute and piano. 

Although Beethoven’s Moonlight on flute is a completely different sound than Carmen, the collaboration between Michele and Melody produced some amazing performances. A career highlight for Ms. McGovern was the performance both women gave at New York City's Carnegie Hall in the Weil recital hall. The concert included all 6 of their arrangements, including Carmen and Beethoven’s Moonlight on flute.

Unfortunately, Ms. Lord passed away too soon, but her memory and the mentorship she provided Michele live in everything she did, including the musical arrangements of Beethoven’s Moonlight on flute and Carmen. After Melody passed away, Michele began writing a tribute video for her that would feature the musical piece that they had conceived together. The video tells the story of a young couple, one a classical flutist Chicago professional and the other a renowned pianist. The engaged couple are working on a new arrangement of Beethoven’s Moonlight on flute, when tragedy strikes. 

The award-winning video starring Michele was dedicated to the memory of Melody. The heart wrenching story and impeccable cinematography are perfectly matched with Beethoven’s Moonlight on flute. Since the introduction of this video, Ms. McGovern has gone on to gather quite a following on YouTube and Vimeo with other award-winning music videos, such as Pavane. This music video and many of the others that Michele is a part of are particularly popular in the crossover classical music genre. 

For instance, unlike the more classic sound of Beethoven’s Moonlight on flute, Pavane is based on the rock arrangement composed by Gary Guttman. The piece was originally written in 1887 by French composer Gabriel Fauré. The original composition is known as Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50. In this video the atmosphere is completely different from the vibe found in Beethoven’s Moonlight on flute. Pavane is a rock inspired music video with a Steam Punk feel that resonates well with the feel of the music.

Ms. McGovern has performed with a number of well-known orchestras and has performed as a soloist for including the Mozart's D Major Concerto, Mozart's Andante, Vivaldi's Il Gardellino Concerto, Vivaldi's La Notte Concerto, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 for two flutes and violin (with flutist Mary Stolper and violinist Rachel Barton Pine), Lukas Foss' "For Toru" (Lukas Foss conducting), and Saint Petersburg Camerata in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she was invited to record. She was also the Principle Flute with the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra for over 15 years.

It appears her career is unstoppable as she releases one amazing music video after the next. Although Beethoven’s Moonlight on flute will always be considered a special tribute, her new work is branching out into crossover classical music that encompasses jazz, rock, Latin, and New Age sounds.