Galway, James

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JAMES GALWAY

Born: Belfast, Northern Ireland, 8 December 1939

Genre: Classical

James Galway is second only to Jean-Pierre Rampal as popularizer of the flute in the twentieth century; in the 1990s no flutist was better known than Galway. With impeccable classical credentials, he has ventured frequently into popular idioms with a musical flair and personal charm that have made him an international music celebrity on an instrument that supports few full-time soloists.

Galway started out playing the penny whistle as a small child before taking up the flute. At the age of ten, he won all three classes of the Irish Flute Championships, which got him a radio session on the BBC. After studies at the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and the Paris Conservatory, he won jobs in the orchestras of Sadlers Wells Opera and the Royal Opera Covent Garden. He played piccolo with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and became principal flutist with the London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1969 he was appointed principal flutist of the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic.

In 1975 Galway took the unexpected step of resigning from the Berlin Philharmonic to venture out on a solo career. It was a risky decision, but in his first year he performed 120 concerts with some of the world's leading orchestras. Since then he has become a fixture on the international concert circuit and much in demand as a soloist. He has made more than fifty recordings, covering all of the standard repertoire. His recording of the Mozart Concerti earned him the Grand Prix du Disque.

Keenly interested in new music, he has commissioned and premiered dozens of works, both classical and pop, and has freely recorded both. At least some of his appeal is due to his recordings of pop songs. Several of his covers of pop tunes have made the European pop charts, and in 1978 he had an international hit with his recording of John Denver's "Annie's Song." He has had music written for him by Elton John, hosted his own TV series, James Galway's Music in Time, and took part in a historic performance of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" in 1991 in Berlin.

He has performed before the queen of England, several times by invitation at the White House, and in 1998 at the ceremony for that year's Nobel Peace Prize, a performance televised to a worldwide audience of millions. In 1997 he was named Musical America's Musician of the Year. In 1999 he became the principal guest conductor of the London Mozart Players and in 2001 was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

Galway's playing is known for its remarkable tonal range and smooth, clear sound; he's known as "the man with the golden flute." A crowd-pleaser with a showman's sense for the room, he seems to love entertaining as much as playing music; he has been known to pull out his penny whistle for a tune in the middle of a concert. He is unmatched among contemporary flutists for his sound, technical ability, and musicianship.