Internationally renowned flutist William Bennett will visit the UT Music Department Wednesday, March 15, to present a master class.
The free, public event will be held at 7 p.m. in the Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall.
Bennett
Joel Tse, an instructor in flute at the University and principal flute for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, studied under Bennett. “He is truly amazing, and I am glad our students and the public will have the chance to meet him and learn from him.”
In addition to recording the standard flute repertoire of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Mozart, Bennett has made pioneer recordings of many neglected 19th century works, such as music by Ries, Romberg and Taffanel. He also has recorded with artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Wynton Marsalis. He has made more than 100 discs as a soloist.
He premiered the Concerto by William Mathias, the Concerto by Diana Burrell, and the Concerto for Flute and Orchestra by Venezuelan composer Raymund Pineda. Each of these was specially written for him.
Bennett has been principal flute in many orchestras, including the London Symphony, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the English Chamber Orchestra.
He has been professor of flute in the Freiburg Hochschule of Music in Germany, and he teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
In addition to making a balalaika and a guitar while in school, he has made and improved flutes from an early age and has done a lot of work on refining the tuning of the flute; several makers in the world now manufacture flutes on the “William Bennett Scale.”
