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Four questions for flutist and composer Nikka Gershman, a new member of the Wagner Society of New York

Nikka Gershman is a student at the Juilliard School in New York, where she became the youngest student ever to receive a Kovner Fellowship. She is the founder of the Music Society of the Future and, as a performing musician and composer, is committed to developing new repertoire for the flute. Her compositions and arrangements are published by the Theodore Presser Company.

1. Why did you join your local association?

Last spring, I attended Dr Wayne Oquin's course 'The Ring and Its Influence' at Juilliard. Every week, we watched an act from The Ring. During Die Walküre, I was so moved by the second act that I simply couldn't wait a whole week for the third. When I heard it for the first time, I was completely overwhelmed. It was the most beautiful music I had ever heard.

Shortly afterwards, I heard that Dr Oquin was due to give a lecture on Tristan und Isolde at the Wagner Society of New York. I became a member straight away — and ordered my WSNY pin, which I wear with pride. Moreover, Wagner's concept of Zukunftsmusik, together with the special community of the WSNY, inspired me to found my own Music Society of the Future.

2. Do you remember your first encounter with Wagner's music?

Very well indeed. It is actually one of my earliest childhood memories. I was three years old. My mother, an art historian and educator, was working at the Getty Museum at the time and was involved with the LA Opera, which staged Der Ring in 2010 under the baton of James Conlon.

One day she came home, put on the Ride of the Valkyries and took me in her arms. She said: "Let's fly with the Valkyries." When I asked who the Valkyries were, she replied: "They are the daughters of the god." So, my love for Wagner began even before I started making music myself.

3. What are you hoping to discover as a new member?

Parsifal, above all. I'm counting down the days until the Metropolitan Opera's production in May 2027. The Wagner Society of New York organises lectures on the Met's Wagner productions. I'm really looking forward not only to experiencing Parsifal in the theatre, but also to learning more about the work through these lectures.

4. What is your favourite Wagner opera — and why?

Usually, my favourite Wagner opera is the one I'm listening to at that very moment! I can never get enough of Die Walküre, Götterdämmerung and Tristan und Isolde.

I have a special connection with Tristan, however. I composed a concert suite for flute and piano, based on the preludes from the first and third acts, the English horn solo and the Liebestod. At the climax of the Liebestod, the flute reaches one of its highest notes. For me, that extreme tension, followed by the tranquil denouement, perfectly reflects what happens in the drama: suffering transformed into an almost metaphysical liberation.

The Liebestod movement has now been published by the Theodore Presser Company as part of my Three Operatic Encores. I will be performing the complete concert suite for the first time at my graduation recital at Juilliard.