Elaine Shaffer (October 22, 1925 – February 19, 1973) was an American flutist and principal of the Houston Symphony Orchestra between 1948 and 1953.
She attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and was the prize student of William Kincaid, the 'grandfather' of the majority of flutists in the United States.
The music director at the time was Efrem Kurtz, which was how they first met, though the two did not marry until 1955, after she had left the Houston Symphony Orchestra — and he had divorced his wife.
[2] After holding the principal flutist's chair in Houston for five years (1948–1953), she left to pursue a career as a soloist and chamber musician (another first for an American woman) winning praise for her debut recital in London.
[5] Solum, a close friend and colleague of Shaffer, invited her and Hephzibah Menuhin to perform the world premiere of that work in October 1971 at a benefit for the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia.
She was able to complete two final projects that were important to her: a concert of J. S. Bach's sonatas for flute, and the first recording of the Copland.