 The album is called Flute Chapters and that is the award-winning Amy Gillan. Amy originally from Lettercanny. She graduated from the Royal College of Music in London with first-class honours, also has a first-class honours from Trinity College. She's performed as a soloist with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, has recorded solo with the orchestra as well and has performed at the prestigious Wigmore Hall in London and was awarded the Irish Heritage Bursary for performance there and has subbed. In other words, you know, sort of played now and again with the RTE Concert Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra. And if all that wasn't enough, she has played in amongst other places, Windsor Castle for the then Prince Charles. And over the pandemic has actually worked as a music teacher at an international school in Abu Dhabi. So it's a long list and to add to that list now is an album. The album is called Flute Chapters. We've been just listening to the opening track there, Eirathan. Delighted to say that. Amy now joins us in the studio. Amy, thanks for coming in. Thanks very much for having me in. John, I'm delighted to be here. You're up in Lettercanny for a couple of days. I am indeed, yes. Visiting family. Visiting family. Yes, doing a bit of work from home and getting CD orders out as well. Okay, yeah, it's important. So this is a new departure for you now having a CD on the market because up to this it's been studying music and recycles and performances and but now it's physical product. Yeah, it's lovely to have finally. So it's it's a huge achievement, a huge milestone and a really special occasion. So a very special week when we launched it this week at the Grand Lodge of the Freemasons in Dublin. And the Irish Freemasons have been so good because I won the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year in 2018. So they yeah, we held the launch at the in the Donnemore Suite there of the CD this week. And it was a really special occasion. Brilliant. And it's a long list. I was just going through the orchestras and collectors that you've played with and the places that you've played in. And it's a long list. So you're over and back between Dublin and London quite a bit. Is that correct? Yes, I am indeed. I work over in London and I do a bit of teaching there and I play different concerts. I'm also coming back to Ireland again towards the end of May because I'm playing at the West Wicklow Festival in Rustborough House on the 20th of May. And then in Blackwater Valley Opera Festival on the 1st of June. But that concert's actually sold out. So tickets are still available for West Wicklow. So I'll be over and back between London and Dublin and then getting back up to beautiful Donnie Gull as well, of course. Now, you haven't got your flute with you today, but it's quite the instrument, I'm told. It is indeed. And the one I play on is extremely special. To me, it's my dream flute. And what are we talking? A lot, a lot of money. You had like, yeah, you were granted in order to get it. Is that correct? I did, yes. And I won the top part of the head joint at Sir James Gawes Flute Festival in Switzerland in 2017, when I was also awarded the rising star by Sir James. So Sir James has played on tracks like Lord of the Rings, etc. And then I built up to buying the professional body. So that's the rest of the flute, the middle part down. And it was thanks to a number of different organisations like the Freemasons from winning the Orades Jago Award as well, as well as many others, to purchase the rest of the body of the flute. But also I'm a Nagahara, who's the maker of the flute. He's a US Japanese maker and he made me a Nagahara young artist. So I'm an ambassador for the brand and his shop is in Boston in the US. So I travelled over there in November 2021 to get the flute finally all fitted together. And that was an amazing experience because the flutes handcrafted all by him and he programmes his machinery to make sure that the tone holds and everything to do with the flute are all exactly how he wants them and how he thinks is best for the best sound. Is every flute unique? For him, yes, because they're all handcrafted. So they're all absolutely unique flutes. And it's a huge, huge honour to play on a flute like that. It's 14 karat gold with silver keys. Yes. Oh, you need to keep that on the lock. Very much so. You haven't left a line at the front there. No, I haven't. And how does it work? Is it the more experienced and the more accomplished you become, the bigger the flute? Well, is that one way to tell just how good somebody is? No, we all start off on the same size of flute. Now, when you're younger, you can start off on a curved head joint flute. Like I studied through the Donegal School of Music. So that's where I have come through Donegal Music Education Partnership and actually Martin McGinley from the Donegal Music Education Partnership came down to my launch on Tuesday as well. So, no, you start off on the same size, but the little curved head joint would be for, you know, smaller little kids to start out with. But then obviously you have the different flutes like you have Piccolo, but that's for, you know, it's very small. It can be used in bands, orchestras, that kind of thing and goes to bigger flutes that could be used in flute choirs that are probably nearly as tall as me. But that just, yes, mainly used for big flute groups. So the one that you use is sort of the equivalent of a grand piano. Very much. So, yeah, a grand piano of the highest quality. So like the equivalent of like a Steinway, let's see. And when you finally got your hands on it, it made a big difference. Oh, huge difference because it was my first ever professional flute I'd been playing on student models up until then. And, you know, it was so important to have such, you know, a caliber of flute, especially for recording the album as well because, you know, it's what you need to have. You need to have the good instrument and the technique to pull it all off. I can imagine. So, well, you pulled it all off for sure, playing with the National Symphony Orchestra and the RT Concert Orchestra and performing for, you know, various well-known people, including Prince Charles and in some very prestigious settings. And how does it work? Like, you know, it says you've been like a soloist with the National Orchestra and also then you have subbed with the Concert Orchestra. It just sort of put you on standby and then say, listen, your man can't make it, you know, your free Friday is how does it work? Yeah, that's generally how freelance and would work. You might be on a list and they would call you if they needed a flute player or something like that. But the most recent experience I had was when I got to perform a soloist with them last February. So, well, February 2022 now, it's a year ago, over a year ago, but I recorded with them actually for RT Lyric FM as the main soloist. So, that was incredible. And I've also played as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra in the Concert Hall in Dublin as well. So, did that bit of recording wet your appetite and did you figure, well, you know, maybe I could do an album of my own? Yeah, well, it definitely did because it's so important to have recordings these days and, you know, to, you know, to have a physical, you know, CD to give to people as well is so important. Or to point them towards streaming and say that, you know... Exactly. Yeah, and, yeah, to point them towards all the different platforms as well. So, I wanted to, you know, just showcase the versatility of the flute while playing homage to, or, you know, homage to composers that have a special association with the flute as well. It was really important. Is that how you picked the pieces? Yeah, that's how I picked the pieces, mainly. So, a lot of the composers, like, for example, Philippe Gobert, who is a French composer, he also studied with Paul Taffanel, who's another very famous French flutist. And then Gobert taught another famous flute player, Marcel Moïse, who then taught Sir James Galloway, who taught me. So, there's special associations with... All right, yes, yeah. All right, so, normally, when we see people like you, Amy, it's in very hushed surroundings and you come on and sort of, you know, very well dressed always and then there's a ripple of polite applause before the music starts. Yes. It must be quite the experience to be on the other side, to be up on the stage and to be sort of, you know, walking on and just looking out at the audience and realizing, oh, especially when you're doing solo performing, that, wow, they're actually, you know, I'm going to have to entertain this crowd, you know, on my own for a chunks of this performance. So, that would be pretty daunting. I think I'm used to it now at this stage, you know, there's something so nice about going out and seeing so many people and familiar faces, maybe people you haven't met before, but they're there to just enjoy the music and listen to you. And then you have to remember you have to enjoy it as well, you know, you might have the usual, you know, little butterflies or, you know, whatever, like that, but you're there to enjoy it. To get into the performance yourself. Yeah, get into the performance, yeah, and feel it and, you know, have the work done and everything beforehand, so you can go and enjoy it and everything like that too, it's very important. But yeah, it's an amazing experience. So what, now you do a bit of teaching as well, is that correct? Yes, yeah, so I teach flutes and I also teach piano as well. So do a little bit of each and as you mentioned earlier, I did teach over in Abu Dhabi for a year, working as a music teacher over there. So education is a huge part of my mission because, you know, I come in from, you know, through the Donegal School of Music and through the education I've had. I know how important it is to have, you know, great education from a young age and that's what I want to do is to, you know, inspire young kids that are coming through, not only flottis or flutus, but, you know, every every young musician to, you know, if you have a dream that you can, you can make it come true. And I suppose in a way it's giving back? It's giving back, which is hugely important because I've had incredible support and I want to, you know, create that for people coming through for young kids. Is it a flutus or flottis? You can say both. I do go by flutus. That would be more known in America, but I prefer it because, you know, flute, flutus, it makes a little bit more sense to me, but you can be known as either. OK. So performance is coming up in Rosborough House and that's next month and at Blackwater Valley Opera Festival then in June. Yes. June 1st. And no talk of any performances locally for anything just yet? Well, we've been in some discussions at the moment, so we're definitely not ruling anything out at the moment. I'd love to get more of a concert set up at home and master classes to do with the young flute players around Donnie Gull as well and go through the album with them and processes playing, tone technique, everything to do with the flute. Intensive flute, flute week or flute days or something. Watch this best. Right. In the meantime, you've got a great website. People can check that out. Yes, they can. And they can check your album. I just want to hear more of your music. It's called Flute Chapters. It's out now and you're also streaming on all platforms worldwide. Amy Gillan, it's been a pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for having me, Don.