Jesse Tatum currently serves as Principal Flute of The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. They are also Principal Flute of the Opera Southwest Orchestra and a Principal Player at Chatter, where they performed over a decade of adventurous chamber music with the innovative Albuquerque-based chamber ensemble. Additionally, Jesse has performed many seasons with The Santa Fe Opera, Performance Santa Fe, and the New Mexico Philharmonic.

Jesse is described as “reliably excellent” (The Santa Fe New Mexican), “The principal flutist Jesse is just a rock star” (Ryan McAdams, conductor), “She is the music of the universe and cannot be contained” (Meow Wolf), and “the girl you wanna hear” (Daniel Sharp, Powell Flutes). Pasatiempo recently called Jesse an “overachiever.”

Jesse was a regularly featured performer at the world-renowned Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. They were also a featured performer at TEDxABQ and a solo performer at Gatas y Vatas, a feminist experimental music festival. Jesse performed a show of contemporary works for solo flute as FluTeBot in conjunction with the Albuquerque Museum’s exhibition, “Patrick Nagatani: Excavations: Buried Cars and Other Stories.” Jesse was a prizewinner at the Myrna Brown Artist Competition, has performed at the Currents International New Media Festival, and appeared as a soloist with the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra. Jesse’s solo debut with The Santa Fe Symphony was in 2016.

Jesse has collaborated with many composers and participated in numerous world, U.S., and New Mexico premieres of solo, chamber, orchestra, and opera works. In 2019, Jesse co-created The Santa Fe Symphony’s SFS Strata Series and curated chamber concerts in collaboration with various organizations in Santa Fe.

They were also a co-curator for The Santa Fe Symphony’s “Music of the Universe” Virtual Concert Series performance, a much-lauded collaboration with Meow Wolf Santa Fe which premiered on SantaFeSymphonyTV.org on March 21, 2021. They have also been a featured performer of Powell Flutes, profiled in Albuquerque’s The Magazine, appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, and served multiple times as a judge for the Newly Published Music Competition of the National Flute Association.

As a student, Jesse was a member of the Catania International Music Festival and the National Repertory Orchestra. They studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of New Mexico. In addition to their success as a professional classical musician, Jesse Tatum is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.