THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Dr. Gio Washington-Wright's Top Los Angeles Studio Musicians Tribute Site
JIM WALKER
WEBSITE: WWW.JIMWALKERFLUTE.COM
If you hear a flute in a recent motion picture, there is a good chance it is the playing of Jim Walker.
Unfortunately, if you watch the credits at the end of that movie you will NOT find any musician listed.
A typical day in Los Angeles finds Jim heading for one of the major motion picture lots around 9:30 am, with his car trunk bulging with all of his flutes, recorders, pipes and whistles.
By 5:00 pm a double session with 40-90 musicians performing will have been completed.
Fifteen to twenty minutes of underscoring will have been recorded, most of which contains no exposed or challenging flute parts. Occassionally the score will contain a few prominent flute solos. All of the music will have been sight-read and recorded within minutes.
In general, a day of recording for soundtracks includes lots of time sitting around waiting for directors to make decisions about often very simple, unchallenging music to sight read and record.
Occasionally, however, you are given the hardest thing you can imagine playing to record on the spot - that's the terrorizing part. And, if you consistently don't play it well, you don't get called back!
LOUISE DiTULLIO
Louise DiTullio, acknowledged as perhaps the most widely recorded flutist in the world, has appeared on more than 1,000 television and film soundtracks in a career than spans four decades. Among her better known film recordings are the soundtracks for “Out of Africa,” “The Godfather,” “Princess Diaries,” “Spiderman 1 and 2,” “A River Runs Through It,” and “Forrest Gump.” TV mini-series with prominent flute parts include “The Thornbirds” and “Lonesome Dove.” She has also recorded on albums by Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Kenny G, and Michael Jackson. DiTullio received the Most Valuable Player award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the years 1975-78 and received the Emeritus Award in 1980. During her busy recording career she also held principal flute positions in many Los Angeles area orchestras, and appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops, Pacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Carmel Bach Festival.
SUSAN GREENBERG
Flutist Susan Greenberg enjoys a versatile career as soloist, chamber musician, symphony player, and recording artist. Her playing has been described as “brilliant, elegant and supple,” with a “gorgeous tone.” As a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, she has been a frequent soloist on both flute and piccolo. Susan has also appeared as guest soloist with the San Francisco and Oakland symphonies, at the Casals Festival, and at the Hollywood Bowl. She has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, the Ojai Festival, and the Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Festival. During the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra’s 1995 tour of Japan, she served as the principal flutist. In March 2003, Susan was featured as the piccolo soloist with the Napa Valley Symphony performing the Bruce Broughton concerto written for her. She has been principal flute of Symphony in the Glen since 1994. She will be opening the 2004-05 season of the Burbank Philharmonic premiering a newly commissioned concerto by Gernot Wolfgang.
Susan began her career as principal flutist with the Roger Wagner Chorale and Orchestra, performing throughout the U.S. and Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. She was a fellowship recipient at Tanglewood and at the Music Academy of the West.
Susan is a cum laude graduate of UCLA, where she also received her Master of Arts. She has been on the faculties of California Institute of the Arts and Occidental College. She received the “Most Valuable Player" award on the flute from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences and can be heard on the Crystal and Angel record labels.
She is co-artistic director of Chamber Music Palisades, now celebrating its seventh season. The Los Angeles Times lauded this ensemble as having “bright and seasoned professionalism with musical panache.”
Susan is active in motion pictures, television, and commercial recordings. She has played on many films including The Lion King; Star Trek; Toy Story; and Monsters, Inc., and on television shows such as The Simpsons, Enterprise, Jag, and Superman cartoons.
DAVID SHOSTAC
WEBSITE: www.davidshostac.com
David Shostac, well-known for his performances throughout North America, is also principal flutist and a frequent soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
He has collaborated as a featured artist with conductors Sir Neville Marriner, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Iona Brown, Christopher Hogwood, Cristof Perick, Gerard Schwarz, Claudio Scimone, Karl Richter, Helmut Rilling, Jorge Mester, Henryk Szeryng, Jeffery Kahane, and many others.
Critics in major cities have been unanimous in their praise-- terms such as 'extraordinary'; 'superb'; 'sheer excellence'; 'dazzling'; 'staggering virtuosity'; 'absolutely fabulous'; 'finest in the country'; 'world-class'; 'a musician of the highest order' have been used to describe his performances.
Solo appearances have included the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, the Casals Festival of Puerto Rico, the Aspen Music Festival, Ojai Festival, Stratford (Ontario) Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, and four National Flute Conventions.
Mr. Shostac has been principal flutist of the St. Louis, Milwaukee, and New Orleans Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Mostly Mozart, Ojai, Carmel Bach Festival and Aspen Chamber Orchestras. In addition to his long tenure with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, he performed as principal flutist with the Aspen Festival Orchestra for fifteen years.
Shostac is a former member of the American Symphony Orchestra with Leopold Stokowski, and has performed with the Boston Symphony (Seiji Ozowa, Erich Leinsdorf, and Eugene Ormandy) and Los Angeles Philharmonic (Zubin Mehta). He has appeared in recital with Roberta Peters and Victoria de Los Angeles, and can also be heard on sound tracks of major motion pictures, recordings, and television shows.
Shostac studied on scholarship with Julius Baker at Juilliard, from which he holds a Masters Degree, and also graduated 'cum laude' from Occidental College. As a student at Tangle-wood he was awarded the Henry B. Cabot Prize as the outstanding orchestral player, and the William Schwann award as well. Recipient of two Rockefeller performance grants, he was also a prizewinner in the national Young Musicians Foundation solo competition and a first prize winner in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, judged by Heifetz and Piatigorsky. He was also a touring artist for many years with the California Arts Council.
Recent solo recordings include CDs 'Masterpieces from the French Repertoire and 'Masterpieces Rediscovered' on Resort Classic, and 'The Romantic Flute' on Excelsior, which was one of the best-selling classical flute recordings in the U.S. in 1998. A second 'Romantic Flute' recording (Volume 2) has recently been released on Excelsior. Other recordings include a solo record, 'Love Letters', on Crystal Records; the Bach Brandenburg Concertos on Angel; Honegger's Concerto da Camera and Janacek's Mladi on Nonesuch with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; and the historic recording on Columbia of Terry Riley's In C.
Formerly a professor at the University of Southern California and a member of the faculties of UCLA, UC Irvine, the Aspen Music School and California Institute of the Arts, he is currently on the faculties of California State University at Northridge and the Henry Mancini Institute. His book, Super Warmups for the Flute (1992) is popular with students, teachers, and professionals.
David performed in several chamber music recitals with the late Jean-Pierre Rampal in 1999, and solo appearances in 2000 included the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Musica Symphonia of Los Angeles, the Corona Del Mar Baroque Festival, Topanga Symphony, and concerts on both coasts with harpsichordist Igor Kipnis, which culminated in a newly-released recording of the Six Flute Sonatas of J.S. Bach.
SHERIDAN STOKES
WEBSITE: www.flute-music.com
Sheridan Stokes is a specialist in contemporary music and the author of Special Effects for Flute and the Illustrated Method for Flute (endorsed by Rampal). These books are sold worldwide. The Illustrated Method for Flute has been translated into Japanese and is published in Japan. Stokes studied from the age of eight with the finest teachers in Los Angeles. At 16 he was hired to play solo piccolo with the Denver Symphony. He attended U.S.C. on a music scholarship, and at 20 became the youngest contract musician in Hollywood; playing piccolo with the renowned 20th Century Fox orchestra under Alfred Newman. Stokes is the solo future on “Mission Impossible” (TV and Movie), ”Out of Africa”, “E.T.”, “Kung Fu”, “Roots”, “Spitfire Grill”, “Apollo 13”, and thousands of other movie and T.V. scores. He received the MVP award for flute from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1981, 82 and 83. In 1984 he received their prestigious Emeritus award. Masterclasses include “Bud Shank’s” Jazz Festival in Port Townsand, Wa. and “Curso de Invierno” in Benidorm, Spain. Premiers include “Concerto” for flute and orchestra by John Williams (1974 UCLA), “Willow Willow” for electric bass flute and percussion by Paul Chiihara (1969 Monday Evening Concerts) recorded on C.R.I., and “On the Wings of the Wind” for solo flute and orchestra by Harry Bulow (1996 Charlotte, N.C.). He has been featured on recordings with Frank Sinatra, Jascha Heifitz, Judy Collins, Natalie Cole, and the Carpenters. His compositions include “Laisse Le Voler” (flute and Marimba). Solo CD records include his transcription of ”Six Sonatas” by Boccherini (Orion-Naxos), “Torbellino” by Caliendo for flute and guitar (Efficaci), “Trio” by Lazarof for flute, clarinet and oboe (Laurel), and “Quintet” by Levitch for flute and strings (Orion). Mr. Stokes has been 1st flute and soloist with the Glendale Symphony for 25 years (Carmen Dragon and Lalo Schifrin directors), and has played 1st flute with the ABT, Houston Ballet, San Fransisco Ballet, and Harlem Ballet. In 1996 he was 1st flute with the Hollywood Festival Orchestra's CD and Video of the “Three Sopranos” and in 1997 was 1st flute with Hollywood Academy Awards Orchestra at the Shrine Auditorium.
PAUL FRIED
WEBSITE: www.paulfried.com
Paul Fried is widely regarded as one of the foremost flutists of his generation. The Los Angeles Times recently described his playing as "masterful". Paul has held positions as Principal Flutist of the Boston Pops, Alternate Principal Flutist of the Boston Symphony, Co-Principal Flutist of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and has also appeared as soloist with these orchestras as well as with the New York Chamber Symphony. In addition, he was invited, after an audition at Carnegie Hall, to perform as solo flutist with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan.
Paul has given recitals in America's major cities, has had solo recordings and performed as flute soloist on the "Evening at the Pops" series. Many of his recordings are distributed internationally.
Paul currently lives in Los Angeles where he is solo flutist in the Ventura County-based New West Symphony. He was the featured soloist last year, performing the Mozart concerto for Flute and Harp and the Telemann A Minor Suite. He has performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra and was a featured performer at the opening night of the National Flute Association convention in New York in August 1996. Paul also has a busy career recording in the studios for motion pictures and television.
