James Galway

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James Galway and his golden flute

Sir James Galway (born December 8, 1939) is a Northern Ireland-born virtuoso flutist from Belfast, often called The Man With the Golden Flute. Following in the footsteps of Jean-Pierre Rampal, he became one of the first flutists to establish an international career as a soloist. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in June 2001.

He auditioned for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan, and was principal flute of that orchestra from 1969 to 1975. To Karajan's surprise and dismay, after a period of some disagreement, "Jimmy" Galway decided that he would leave to pursue a solo career, which he succeeded in doing admirably. He still performs regularly and is one of the world's leading classical flute players.

He is Principal Guest Conductor of the London Mozart Players, based at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, South London.

Most recently, Sir James has performed for the Academy Award-winning ensemble recording the soundtracks of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

He now resides in Meggen, Switzerland, with his U.S.-born wife, Jeanne.

He plays a golden flute that was handcrafted for him by the Nagahara team.

He is also president of a global organization called Flutewise, run by Liz Goodwin.

[edit] Trivia

James's nephew Martin Galway is a computer musician famous for his work on Commodore 64 games in the 1980s.

James prefers the term "flute player" over the term "flautist" and has been quoted as saying, "I am a flute player, not a flautist. I don't have a flaut, and I've never flauted."

Apparently he was late for his audition for the Berlin Philharmonic by more than two hours, enraging Karajan so much that the legendary conductor made him play all sorts of excerpts and solos that were beyond the originally proposed audition material, hoping to humble and embarrass Galway. To Karajan's surprise, not only did Galway manage to play everything with spot on accuracy and fluid musicality, he was able to do a lot of it by memory when the music was not at hand, demonstrating his extensive knowledge and grasp of the flute repertoire.