About
"A beautiful storyteller"
~ VERONICA LOPEZ, violist & music educator
"Remarkably talented... I could not be
happier with our collaboration."
~ MOLLY RICE, artistic director of
Real/Time Interventions
"Theresa offered an insightful presentation that reflected her
courage, artistry, & grace."
~ MONIQUE MEAD, violinist & director of Music Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University
Noted for her "gorgeous, frictionless sound," Theresa Seguritan Abalos is a Pittsburgh-based flutist, writer, & teaching artist. Through explorations of culture & belonging, she creates experiences of sound & language that inspire people to listen more deeply.
Recent performances include Khūrākī (2019-2020), commissioned by the Office of Public Art and created by Real/Time Interventions with Pittsburgh's Afghan refugee community. Theresa is also a musician of Ears Engaged, a chamber ensemble that brings interactive experiences of classical music into Pittsburgh's community spaces.
In 2019, Theresa created a performance called Poems in Practice Rooms, her journey as a classical flutist of color. Awarded a fellowship from the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, her film version (2020) was praised as "profound, sad, uplifting, powerful, and beautiful" (Paul Eiss, anthropologist & professor at Carnegie Mellon University).
As a teaching artist, Theresa offers workshops on creative expression & musical storytelling. In 2020, she began a series of blog entries, Behind the scenes, to share clips of her practicing & reflect on the challenges faced by artists today.
In 2018, Theresa received the Jennings Family Brave Companion Award to conduct research in Argentina. She presented her work, on música folclórica & belonging, at the Society of Ethnomusicology & was featured on CMU News. Other awards include Phi Beta Kappa for academic honors. In May 2020, she graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BXA degree in Flute Performance & Global Studies, with a Hispanic Studies minor.
A daughter of Filipino immigrants, Theresa is deeply grateful to her parents, to Alberto Almarza, Monique Mead, Jennie Dorris, and many others.
She currently works at Carnegie Mellon's Global Communication Center, at the counter of a local bakeshop in Squirrel Hill, and freelances & teaches around Pittsburgh.