Gareth McLearnon profile picture

Gareth McLearnon

Basically, I blow down tubes for a living....

About Me


Gareth McLearnon began his flute playing career in his native Belfast, making his way through the ranks of the 39th Old Boys Flute Band , before moving to London in 1999 to attend the Guildhall School of Music & Drama . Whilst still a student there Gareth recorded with the legendary flute-player, Sir James Galway and Harpist Marisa Robles for the charity CD Songs for Alexander.
Gareth is also an active arranger of music, and is collaborating with Sir James on a collection of Irish Flute and Piano music for Theodore Presser Publishers , which is due for release in 2007 - this all happened following Sir James playing one of Gareth's arrangements on Live at the Lincoln Center to a US TV Audience of around 8 million people in December 2004. Gareth also enjoys playing the music of his homeland in various guises - most recently with the fantastic group Licence to Ceilidh where he plays on his wooden 1924 Rudall-Carte flute with a matching headjoint made for him by Robert Bigio.
Gareth is a recipient of the 2003 Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Music Education Award , a Countess of Munster Musical Trust Award and was awarded full scholarships to attend Sir James Galways Masterclasses in Italy (2003) and Switzerland (2004) Gareth has given recitals all over the UK and Europe for the Ireland Funds , Invest Northern Ireland , and the Concordia Foundation , and was a Making Music Recommended Artist for 2006. Gareth's journalism skills have recently been featured in Pan Magazine in an article he wrote about Philippe Barnes and he has had his article entitled: "On buying the Flute" featured in the recent Wind & Brass issue of Classical Music Magazine and it will feature in the next issue of Flutewise Magazine
Gareth gained a place in Southbank Sinfonia - "Britains Professional Orchestral Academy" for its 2005 season which involved being part of almost 90 concerts including fully staged opera, World Premieres, solo performances and a solo concerto.
His professional Orchestral experience also includes playing in concerts and BBC TV & Radio recordings with the Ulster Orchestra , The London Pops Orchestra , Australian National Opera , he has played in West-End Shows and has toured with Nigel Kennedy. He is a founder member of EMFEB , an exciting young orchestra resident at St. Johns-at-Hackney.
Gareth is a Pearl Flutes International Artist and is also employed by Pearl Music Europe as their Flute Specialist - he plays on one of Pearl's finest custom made 14K Gold Maesta instruments with a 14K Headjoint by Dana Sheridan.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/11/2006
Band Website: pearlflute.com
Band Members:
Me

and sometimes Helen Reid , Michael McHale, James Longford or Phil Cornwell on Piano

or Katy Elman on Marimba

I also regularly play with Ensembles of various shapes and sizes - from Duets and Trios - to full-size Symphony Orchestras

Influences:
Flute Teachers & Mentors:

Sir James Galway
Billy Dunwoody
Colin Fleming
Michael Cox
Sam Coles
Ian Clarke
Averil Williams
Sarah Newbold

And Flute Players who I haven't studied with but I would
count as (positive) influences on my playing:

Dave Heath
Gareth Davies
Matthias Ziegler
Marco Granados
David Nicholson
Sharon Bezaly
Jacques Zoon
Emmanuel Pahud
Jaime Martin
Rhonda Larson
Rachel Brown
Philippe Barnes

Sounds Like:
A Flute - being played
and sometimes
A Whistle - being played
or occasionally
An Alto Flute - being played
and as seldom as possible
A Piccolo - being played

Gareth's Details:

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Status: Single
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Here for: Gigs, Contacts, Friends
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Orientation: Straight
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Hometown: Belfast
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Height: 6'2"
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Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
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Birthday: 17th Jan 1980
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Smoke/Drink: No/Yes
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Children: Someday
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Education: College Graduate
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Occupation: Fluter
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I share my Birthday with:

Jim Carrey (1962)
Andy Kaufman (1949)
Muhammed Ali (1942)
James Earl Jones (1931)
Vidal Sassoon (1928)
Al Capone (1899)
Anton Chekhov (1860)
François Gossec (1734)
Benjamin Franklin (1706)

Gareth's Interests:

General: Planning to move to places: London, or possibly NYC as it's so cool, Complaining about how much things costin the UK as opposed to the USA, Going to the gym, watersports (kayaking, waterskiing, jet-skiing, swimming) learnng how to do folk flute properly, Restaurants, great food & wine, cooking, cinema, Radio 4, Scrabble (both against real people, and against my unrealistically intelligent palmtop computer) nice clothes, (Hugo Boss, Ted Baker, Abercrombie & Fitch, Polo, Diesel, and Gant being my favourites) Myspacing, Going out, staying in...
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Music: Classical composers, favourites being: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Tchaikowsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Ravel, Debussy, Kodaly, Copland, Reich, Adams, Owen Bourne & Benjamin Ellin (of course!) there are just too many.... I Love folk music too – especially Bill Whelan, Philippe Barnes and All Jigged Out. My guilty pleasure is Jacques Loussier I enjoy just about all jazz and funk when it’s played well. I DETEST really loud music in pubs and bars – as the whole point of being there is to chat!! Grrrrrr…..
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Movies: Tarantinos, Gladiator, Roman Epics in general, Jurassic Parks, Lord of the Ringses, Meet the Parents, Saving Private Ryan, Back to the Futures, The Bourne Identity/Supremacy, James Bonds, Austin Powerses, Star Warses, Harry Potters, Indiana Joneses, Clear & Present Danger & Patriot Games, Firefox, American Pie 1 & 2, American Beauty, Usual Suspects, There are more…..
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Television: Extras, The Office, Little Britain 1 & 2 (they should’ve stopped), QI, Top Gear, Have I got News for You, Big Brother (shamefully) Simpsons, Friends, Spooks, e.r., Futurama...
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Books: Conn Iggulden - Emperor Series, Robert Harris - everything he's ever written, Michael Crichton - everything he's ever written, J.K. Rowling - Potterses, Dan Brown - everything except digital fortress, Bill Bryson - Brief History, Frank McCourt – everything (Don’t have as much time to read now, as I don’t play in Orchestra so much!)
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Record Label: EMFEB
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

May the road rise up to meet you...

I think it's a Celtic blessing - one suitable for the coming of a New Year. But today, it could be interpreted in a rather different way. First of all, not a DROP of alcohol had passed my lips - even ...
Posted by Gareth McLearnon on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 03:11:00 PST

Wee stars* & Air(port) Rage.

First Blog - ever - well, besides the poem that I wrote when I was feeling sorry for myself... Be gentle. Fillet Steak - it's really expensive but it's really good. Come to think of it - it's pro...
Posted by Gareth McLearnon on Mon, 04 Sep 2006 03:27:00 PST