Andrew Lane
Andrew Lane is the principal piccolo and a
flautist in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a position
he has held for 33 years. 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 as guest flute, piccolo and alto
flute in concerts and recordings with orchestras including the BBC
Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Opera
North, BBC Philharmonic, Welsh National Opera, Birmingham Royal
Ballet, Mid-Wales Opera, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, and the
Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Spain. For seven years from 2002,
Andrew was solo flute with the CBSO’s Berkley Salon Ensemble.
Andrew teaches piccolo at RWCMD and runs an
annual series of piccolo workshops at Birmingham Conservatoire.
Settings in which he has given masterclasses and adjudicated
competitions include the BBC Young Musician of the Year,
Birmingham Music Service, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Live
Music Now West Midlands, and the Royal Academy of Music. He is
the principal flute teacher at the University of Bristol.
In 2008 Andrew completed and published a tutor
book, Piccolo Craft, based on 30 years’ teaching and
performing experience. It is now selling worldwide.
Andrew plays a Howel Roberts grenadilla wood
flute with a Tobias Mancke 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.