Andrew Lane
Andrew Lane was Principal Piccolo and flautist in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for 38 years.
“My time in the CBSO covered performances of a vast amount of superb music, coinciding with the whole of the CBSO’s renowned affiliations with Sir Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo, Andris Nelsons, and the start of its association with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, interspersed throughout with the inspiring and diverse styles of many guest conductors.”
Born and brought up in North Wales, Andrew studied at the Royal Academy of Music, joined D’Oyly Carte Opera Company Orchestra, played a season as solo flute with the Max Jaffa Spa Orchestra in Scarborough, then won his post with the CBSO.
He has played guest flute, piccolo and alto flute in concerts and recordings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, RPO, BBC Philharmonic, RLPO, Opera North, WNO, Mid-Wales Opera, Birmingham Royal Ballet, LPO, Philharmonia, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Spain. From 2002, Andrew was also solo flute with the CBSO’s Berkley Salon Ensemble for seven years.
Andrew continues to freelance, and specialises in piccolo and alto flute teaching, at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, as well as privately, online and in-person. He has given masterclasses and adjudicated competitions for BBC Young Musician, Birmingham Music Service, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Live Music Now, the Royal Academy of Music’s Jonathan Myall Piccolo Prize, Cardiff and Birmingham Universities, Llangenny Flutes and other flute courses, and the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels.
Andrew has completed a tutor book, Piccolo Craft, based on many years’ teaching and performing experience. It is now selling worldwide.
Andrew plays a Hans Reiner piccolo and a highly self-customised Anton Braun grenadilla wood flute with a Tobias Mancke flute headjoint. He has a keen interest in the development of the flute and has helped flute-maker William Simmons design innovative key-mechanisms for the flute and piccolo, the most recent of which have been adopted by other renowned flute-makers.