Tag Archives: Concert

Elizabeth Petcu At National Gallery

Elizabeth Petcu in concert.

On Sunday, August 23, Martin Doyle‘s good friend Elizabeth Petcu is scheduled to perform highlights from her debut solo flute music album Just Me at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.

For over 25 years Elizabeth served as the principal flautist with Ireland’s RTÉ Concert Orchestra until a hearing problem (otosclerosis) sidelined her career. This from Elizabeth’s web site:

Irish flute player Elizabeth Petcu seeks new ways of exploring and presenting music and her debut solo album Just Me captures in essence Elizabeth’s true authentic sound through a brilliant interpretation of her favourite repertoire.

Particularly innovative is the use of the keyless wooden Irish flute for the Telemann pieces (tracks 3 and 4). The Liam Bates composition, Moth Manoeuvres (track 12), was commissioned by Helen Gaynor for her art exhibition in May 2007 — a project that was part-funded by the Wexford County Council Arts Department and the Arts Council. Elizabeth premiered Moth Manoeuvres at Newtownbarry House in Bunclody, County Wexford. Just Me also includes the music of Karg-Elert, Bach, Debussy and others.

Elizabeth will be performing at the National Gallery of Ireland on a Muramatsu concert flute fitted with a wooded head joint made by Martin Doyle and a traditional Irish flute that was also made by Martin Doyle.

The concert will begin at 3 pm in the Shaw Room, National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square West, Dublin. Tickets are €10, concessions €7.

Rune To Perform In April

New Music Samples Added

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Just added to Martin Doyle Flutes: three music samples from Elizabeth Petcu’s debut solo flute album, Just Me. Elizabeth Petcu is a good friend of Martin Doyle’s who lives in Bray, County Wicklow. They also constitute two thirds of the music trio Rune.

Elizabeth Petcu’s debut album, Just Me.

Former Principal Flute (25+ years) with the RTE Concert Orchestra, Elizabeth Petcu studied with Professor Doris Keogh at The Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. She has an honours music degree from Trinity College Dublin and holds a Masters in Music Therapy from the University of Limerick. Just Me is a distillation of all these experiences.

The fourteen tracks that comprise Just Me were recorded at the acoustically exceptional Calary Church near Roundwood in County Wicklow and the album is a lovely interpretation of Elizabeth’s favourite repertoire.

Elizabeth recorded Just Me on a Muramatsu concert flute fitted with a wooden headjoint and a keyless simple system Irish flute. Both the wooden headjoint and the Irish flute were made by Martin Doyle. The three tracks that have been added to Martin Doyle’s website are those that Elizabeth recorded using her Martin Doyle keyless Irish flute.

Elizabeth Petcu playing a Martin Doyle flute.

The two Telemann tracks are particularly worth noting as they were technically challenging in that Elizabeth decided to perform them on her Martin Doyle keyless simple system flute – just six open holes with lots of half-holing and cross fingering – quite an accomplishment! Throughout this album, Elizabeth Petcu exhibits her capacity as a mature flute player of great technical capacity that is coupled to a heart-felt passion and sensitivity for her selection. Just MeDebussy, Telemann, Bozza, Bach, Ibert, Honegger, Bates and Karg-Elert – with a traditional Irish air as a fitting finale.

The three tracks can be heard here: Flute Music – Elizabeth Petcu »

Our gratitude to Elizabeth Petcu for her kind permission to display these tracks. For those interested, Just Me can be purchased from the homepage of Elizabeth’s website »

Martin Doyle, Sri Chinmoy And The Royal Albert Hall

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Martin Doyle has not performed at the Royal Albert Hall, but he has been on the stage – and so have his flutes…

Martin Doyle presents Sri Chinmoy with a three keyed flute on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall.

On October 17, 2003, Sri Chinmoy offered a peace concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Martin Doyle went to see the Master perform. One of Sri Chinmoy’s students from New York had commissioned Martin to make a flute for Sri Chinmoy and he was invited to stay behind for a private post-concert function and an opportunity to present the instrument to Sri Chinmoy personally. It was a special order D flat three-key flute made of African Blackwood.

After the concert Sri Chinmoy remained on the stage while his students – several hundred in number that had come from all over the world to be at the concert – were seated in the auditorium. Martin assembled and presented the new flute to Sri Chinmoy and the Master played it for a while. He was very pleased to meet Martin and very grateful to him for the care and effort that went into creating the one-off flute. For his part, Martin was very honoured to have met Sri Chinmoy in such a way and commented that it was a unique moment in his life.

Martin Doyle watches as Sri Chinmoy tries the new flute.

Audio tracks from Sri Chinmoy’s 2003 concert can be heard here:
Sri Chinmoy at the Royal Albert Hall, London »

The second event connecting Martin Doyle with the Royal Albert Hall was also a concert but not one that he personally attended. Two of his flutes were present though.

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Doyle Flute Featured On Flutewise

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Flutewise article – click to see a larger version.

One of Martin Doyle’s recent accomplishments, an F flute made in Boxwood, was featured late last year in an article about Irish flute makers. The article is based on an answer to an email enquiry sent to the Irish flute repair expert Jon Dodd regarding recommended Irish flute makers – and was published by Flutewise magazine. From their website:

Since 1988, when Liz Goodwin founded Flutewise, our organisation has provided fantastic services to young flute players, their parents and their teachers. Throughout these 25 years Flutewise has been renowned for our vast number of fun events. Ranging from small events lasting a few hours to two day events for over 1,000 young players, Flutewise events have taken place both in the UK and in countries all over the world.

The ‘F’ flute was made specially as a gift for the spiritual musician and meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy on the occasion of the Master’s 76th birthday. It was a first-of-it’s-kind for Martin Doyle and, by all accounts, a beautiful flute with exceptionally sweet tone.

Jon Dodd is an Irish and concert flute repair specialist who lives not far from Martin Doyle in Knockliscrane, Miltown Malbay, County Clare. Click on the image above to see the full article as it appeared in Flutewise. Special thanks to Liz Goodwin of Flutewise for supplying the image.

News – Martin Doyle Flutes

News, articles and updates relating to the Irish flute maker Martin Doyle.