Sir James GalwayOBE (born 8 December 1939) is an Irish[1][2]virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute".[3] After several years working as an orchestral musician, he established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received theBrit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music at theClassic Brit Awards.
Galway was born in North Belfast as one of two brothers. His father, who played the flute, was employed at theHarland & Wolff shipyard until the end of the Second World War and spent night-shifts cleaning buses after the war, while his mother, a pianist, was a winder in a flax-spinning mill. Raised as aPresbyterian and surrounded by a tradition of flute bands and many friends and family members who played the instrument, he was taught the flute by his uncle at the age of nine and joined hisfife and drum corps. At the age of eleven Galway won the junior, senior, and open Belfast flute Championships in a single day. His first instrument was a five-keyIrish flute, and at the age of twelve or thirteen, he received aBoehm instrument.[1][4][5][6][7]
Galway was educated at Mountcollyer Secondary Modern School in Belfast.[8][9] He left school at the age of fourteen and worked as an apprentice to a piano repairer for two years.[4]
He performs on Nagahara flutes, as well as someMuramatsu Flutes.Conn-Selmer produces his line of flutes, "Galway Spirit Flutes".
Galway is president of Flutewise, a global charitable organisation that supports young flute players,[11][16] run by Liz Goodwin. In 2003 he formed the Music Education Consortium together withJulian Lloyd Webber,Evelyn Glennie, andMichael Kamen to pressure the British Government into providing better music education in schools. He has been an Ambassador for the National Foundation for Youth Music, a UK charity.[17]
Galway is a National Patron ofDelta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity,[21] and an ambassador of the UK charityHelp Musicians.[22]
In December 2013, Galway launchedFirst Flute, an online interactive series of lessons for beginning flute students of all ages.[23]
Galway has been married three times. His first marriage, to a French woman, produced a son. He married his second wife, Anna (Annie) Renggli, a daughter of a well-known Swiss architect, in 1972, and moved from Berlin toLucerne, Switzerland, her hometown. The couple had twin daughters and a son. In 1978 he recorded for her aninstrumental version ofJohn Denver's "Annie's Song". It peaked at no. 3 in theUK Singles Chart.[5][13]
After this divorce, he moved toMeggen, Switzerland, a village next to Lucerne, where he resides now with his third wife, the American-born flute playerJeanne Galway (née Cinnante), whom he married in 1984. They often tour together, playing duets. In addition, they give masterclasses and lectures.[25][26]
Galway is a devout Christian who visits various types of churches while travelling (as long as they are not – in his view – modern and "happy-clappy"), and prays before his concert performances.[27] He also wears across pendant, about which he says, "It's not jewellery. It's something that reminds me of what I should be doing and how I should be behaving."
In August 1977, Galway was run over by a speeding motorcycle in Lucerne, breaking his left arm and both legs and required a four-month hospital stay.[4][5] He has the eye conditionnystagmus, and is a patron of the Nystagmus Network, a charity that supports people with the condition.[28] In December 2009, he fell down a flight of stairs at his home, fracturing his left wrist and breaking his right arm.[29]
Appearing onThe Nolan Show in June 2015, Galway stated that he views his national identity as Irish. He was critical of the actions of the Northern Irish government during his childhood, and singled out prominentUnionist figures such asIan Paisley whom Galway blamed for fostering the divisions that led toThe Troubles. His comments were criticised by prominent Unionist politicians, among themSammy Wilson.[30] Describing Northern Ireland as "the British-occupied part of Ireland", Galway further elaborated he would like "Ireland to be Ireland" and that when people ask him where he comes from he says "Ireland" and when asked if he is "Irish", he replies affirmatively.[2] He did, however, accept substantive British honours, first anOBE, and later aknighthood.[31]
NOTE: All release dates for non-compilations below are taken from the liner notes forThe Man with the Golden Flute – The Complete RCA Collection (71 CDs and 2 DVDs box set) (2014).
Prokofiev & Franck: Sonatas for Flute and Piano (withMartha Argerich; November 1975)
^Rampal, Jean-Pierre (1989).Music, My Love. Random House. p. 178.ISBN0-394-56578-9.He wanted to take lessons with me... visit me on the Avenue Mozart so that I could hear him play... I did little more than encourage him and comment briefly on his playing. I wouldn't call the advice I gave him that of a teacher to a pupil, because he was so good that he didn't need to study at the Conservatory.
