Sir James Galway

**Sir James Galway** (born 12/8/39; FULL NAME: **Sir James Charles-Martin Galway, OBE**) is an Irish-British flautist who appeared in Tang's Hooter, a series 1 episode in the show. As both an impressive master of the flute and a showman, he is nicknamed as *The Man with the Golden Flute* by everyone, especially by music lovers and BBC viewers (*Jimmy* by friends in his early times).

After leaving Berlin Philharmonic, he began making 75 records labeled by Sony Music, RCA Victor and Deustche Grammophon. He also had double-tasking dual roles as guest conductor and soloist, whilst succeeding on top of Howard Shelly in The London Mozart Players' recordings, in 1999.

He has a wife named **Lady Jeanne Galway** (born 10/8/55 as **Jeanne Helena Cinnante**), and lives in Meggen, Switzerland.

## Aspects

* Gender: Gentleman
* Eyes: Blue
* Hair: Brownishly Black (1978); Greyish-White (2001-onwards)
* Skin: Light
* WEARS GLASSES: Yes (1999-onwards)
* Instruments: Flute, Piccolo, Tin Whistles

## Image

Click for his image.

Click on an image of him without glasses [1].

## Instruments

* Flute (used a lot and in this episode)
* Soprano Tin Whistle *(a few times)*
* Low Whistle *(only in "Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King")*
* Piccolo *(occasionally)*
* Guest Conductor *(very few times)*

## Sound

If the viewer hears Sir James play his flute, the sound and tone of his flute is very dulcet and golden-toned, gleaming like a crystal diamond, and it shows dazzling overtones, bringing his ravishing flute to his famously voluminous sound - rich and focused in the low register, gentle and clear in the middle register, and silvery and glittering in the high register - in which we all love today; the vibrato of his flute, in addition to his tone, is spirited, broad and romantic.

In 1978, his tone is a reminiscent of Marcel Moyse; in 2007-onwards, his vibrato and tone is more wider and spirited (as mentioned above), and considered to be "naturally huge".

His flute can produce pleasant and sweetly melodic lyricism, and bring elaborate, trilling ornaments (such as the d3 trill during interlude of the song Do You Want to Have Fun?), decorating musical passages, as if the flute sounds like a silver-voiced nightingale singing. Galway's flute can also show its funky, upbeat, jazzy tunes, in addition.

In the episode Tang's Hooter, the Zingzillas shorten the description of the flute's sound, as we did here, as *a lovely, quiet sound*, however.

## Sound Samples

Hear Sir James Galway play Sartori's "Con Te Partiro" [2] or some snippets of Mozart's "Flute and Harp Concerto" and Debussy's "Syrinx" [3] to hear his sounds above.

To hear his reminisce that led to the song "Do You Want to Have Fun?", hear him play an upbeat, funky, fast and jazzy take on the classic ballad "Crazy" [4].

## In the Show

He plays 2 versions of the melody of Do You Want to Have Fun? in Tang's Hooter, first as a melodic, gentle song and then as a funky jazz tune.

## Other TV Appearances

* *Sesame Street* (1978-1993, 14 episodes)
* *Brendon Chase* (playing theme music)
* *Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King* (Featured musician in 3 of the score's selections) (Movie, 2003)
* *Classical Brits Awards 2005* (playing music by Offenbach, Denver, Bach and Rimsky-Korsakov, all as a medley)
* *BBC Proms 2013* (playing Mancini's "Pie-in-The-Face Polka" and allowing the audience to dance to it throughout)

## Trivia

* He is the oldest musician to participate in "Zingzillas", hence being in his late 70s.

## Quotes

* *"I do not consider myself as having mastered the flute, but I get a real kick out of trying."*
* *"Whatever you play, I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I have enjoyed playing all of these flutes over my career."*
* *"If you can imagine, you can do it."*

### In The Show Episode

" *(FLUTE INSTRUMENTAL: A SPIRITED, TRILLING SOLO) "* [from the song "Do You Want to Have Fun?"]