Jane Austen, Music, and Me

I was named after Jane Austen by my mother—her favourite writer, who soon became mine. As a teenager, I devoured every Austen novel, reading and re-reading them dozens of times. To this day, I return to them like dear friends. Fanny Price, Anne Elliot, Lizzie Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, Charlotte Lucas—all of them live within me. Perhaps in true theatrical fashion, like Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I want to play every part. Sometimes – now in full currently fashionable transgender mode – I even at times feel I am Wickham, Henry Crawford… or on good days Fitzwilliam Darcy.

[As a teenager I once translated the latter part of Darcy’s letter into French as a covert declaration of love to a teenage crush… the crush thankfully understood the reference and we remained lifelong friends!]

Austen’s female characters are some of the most defining figures in literature. Their brilliance, wit, courage, and flaws resonate with me deeply. Each time I reread them, I feel they are telling my own story—and I fiercely identify with their journeys of growth, discovery, and the delicate dance between truth and self-delusion.

I love imagery, witty wordplay and irony in language. My great aspiration is to be a wordsmith, in the way that I have learnt to be a shape-shifter within the phrasing of my flute playing. Jane Austen is the master—she is my mistress. How lovely!

Jane Austen’s Voice in Music

My love of Austen has always intertwined with my music. Her innovative, free, and direct style reminds me of French flute playing—the inflections, the conversational meanderings of a line, the way narrative unfolds musically and allows each listener their own interpretation.

In music, as in Austen’s prose, there is a continual act of revision. Each practice, each performance, strips away ego and illusion, striving toward a universal truth. Tony Tanner once said that Pride and Prejudice is “a drama of re-cognition”—the mind revisiting, revising, and finally seeing things as they are. Music is much the same.

For me, playing the flute is not simply about sound—it’s about storytelling, dialogue, and connection.

Ruth Wilson: A Friend, Mentor, and Inspiration

Recently, the universe brought me back into the orbit of Ruth Wilson—a woman who has been like a fairy godmother in my life. Her presence is profoundly consoling.

Ruth and her remarkable generation—my parents’ generation—were fiercely clever, cultured and creative. Polymaths who revered knowledge, beauty, literature, and the best of Western civilisation, all the while never shying away from challenging its injustices. As a child, I was privileged to move among their circle, thanks to my mother Anne [Shipton] Rutter’s involvement in the brilliant semi-professional theatre group called Graduate Theatre.  Made up of Sydney University graduates, – former Sydney University Dramatic Society [SUDS] members, they included: Arthur Dignam,  Richard Bradshaw, Maggie Blinco, Val Donlon, Brom and Arianthe McKillop, Olive Wood, Allan Kendall, Ted and Hilary Linstead, Charles Cooper, Philip Kitley, David Mitchell, Ruth Wilson, David Wilson, and Terence Clarke.

Stage-struck, I spent hours at rehearsals, helping backstage, ushering, turning music pages, playing child roles—anything just to be part of the magic.

That Graduate Theatre World introduced me to extraordinary people, including Don Burrows (commissioned to write incidental music for The Man of Mode), who later became my teacher. At the heart of That Graduate Theatre hub was Ruth—curious, brilliant, generous of spirit, while at home in my bedroom was the company of Jane Austen and her characters…

(Under the bedcovers after lights out, the torch clearly shining through the blankets…indeed both my parents were avid readers, and I think they turned a blind eye to this literary disobedience au lit)

At 89, Ruth achieved something astonishing: earning her PhD and publishing The Jane Austen Remedy. What an inspiration for all of us! Her book is warm, wise, and impossible to put down.

Music for Jane Austen

For Ruth’s book launch, I created a new solo flute arrangement of Robin Adair—which I have only ever performed once, in my concert Series Live at Lunch at the Concert Hall of the Concourse Sydney Australia. A programme entitled Britannia Rules the Stage.

Robin Adair is the only piece of music Jane Austen ever explicitly mentioned in her novels. In Emma, Jane Fairfax plays it as a brilliantly coded message of love to Frank Churchill, proof of Austen’s wit and her deep understanding of the hidden power of art, and of music’s power to communicate.

I am delighted to say that at the Jane Austen Society of Australia’s 2025 Christmas celebration, I will perform the arrangement  – for the second time ever. Alongside the performance, I’ll be sharing some thoughts on Austen’s heroines, the curious relationship between Charlotte Lucas and Lizzie Bennet, and my own lifelong bond with Austen’s works.

Adversity has always been woven through Jane Austen’s life and work, even as her novels sparkle with wit and optimism. She never married in a world where a woman’s security depended on a good match, and after her father’s death she, her sister Cassandra, and their mother experienced genuine financial precarity and repeated moves that left them dependent on the goodwill of relatives.

Ill health shadowed her final years; she wrote through increasing weakness and pain, completing masterpieces like Persuasion while her body quietly failed her, before dying at just 41. Yet from these constraints and disappointments she forged a powerfully independent inner life, creating heroines who learn to see clearly, to laugh, and to keep loving in spite of loss and limitation.

In a very different era, adversity has also somewhat marked my path, deepening rather than diminishing my artistic voice. A serious car accident left me in a brief coma and caused very minor brain damage. Medical advice urged me to slow down and reduce my workload.

Refusing to let this setback define me, I chose instead to live and create with even greater intensity: I have now released my 27th solo flute album and, over the last decade, have produced and starred in hundreds of concerts, continuing to share my music with undimmed passion.

Like Austen, I know that vulnerability and limitation can sharpen, rather than blunt, the courage to tell the truth; adversity becomes not a full stop, but a surprising modulation, out of which a richer, more resonant melody emerges.

Why Austen Matters

Jane Austen is more than a novelist to me. She has been a guide, a mirror, and a friend. Her characters illuminate my own self-illusions and help me embrace the humility of recognising mistakes, just as Emma and Lizzie do. She has influenced my art, my stagecraft, and even my delight in burlesque and cabaret, with their love of caricature and pastiche.

When I was a teenager, my mother caught me reading Victoria Holt novels, with gentle disdain, she handed me Pride and Prejudice instead. I gobbled it up and soon devoured Austen’s entire body of work—a diet I’ve never truly abandoned. And for that, and for being named ‘Jane,’ I will always thank her.

Austen’s voice runs like a melody through my life—and when I play the flute, I feel we are having a conversation that spans centuries.

Thank you, Ruth, for reminding us that at any age we can live, learn, and create boldly.

Jane Austen’s voice has always been with me—in my reading, my performing, and in the way I strive to connect honestly with audiences. the writer who has shaped me and even my name.

Thank you, Jane Austen, for shaping my art, my imagination and my voice as both musician and woman. And thank you, dear Mum, for giving me both my name and my first Austen novel.

With love

—Jane Rutter

The post Jane Austen, Music, and Me appeared first on Jane Rutter.

Meditations on Australia is a deep, personal journey. Throughout my life, I’ve had the privilege of performing all over Australia, from large cities to remote Outback. Presenting on Nine’s Getaway in 1994 was a special experience, which opened my heart further to this land’s vast beauty. As a child my father took me on rugged bush walks. We spent countless hours exploring the majestic shores of Tathra Beach, the Bega River and the terrain of Mumbulla Mountain. These early encounters with nature profoundly influenced how I create music, inspiring me to capture the raw beauty and spirit of the Australian outdoors in my flute playing.
The album is my way of honouring the traditional custodians of this land and the profound cultural connection they have to country. I embrace Dadirri, a concept shared by Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, whose blessing and wisdom have touched my creative heart. Dadirri means deep listening, stillness, awareness—an inner practice that resonates with how my French flute teachers approached music. Here I blend classical flute with elements of Indigenous music to create sounds that evoke the whisper of wind through eucalyptus trees, the rhythmic crash of ocean waves, and the haunting calls of native birds. Many tracks are improvised. I invite you to join me in a sonic exploration of the land I know and love—a place of contrasts, beauty, and enduring inspiration. This album is a musical homecoming, a tribute to Australia’s landscapes and stories: a call to listen deeply, to find peace in stillness, and to open our hearts to the sacred stories that link us across time and space – Jane Rutter Flutes

Spotify URI: spotify:album:037PtBmKtZSIA4oR5mCczC

Apple ID: 1846007232

Fan Link: https://ffm.to/meditationsonaustralia  

2MBSFM ‘Album of the week’ December 1-7

Meditations on Australia Prerelease playlist: 6 videosPlay all

More on Meditations on Australia 

“Meditations on Australia” is more than an album; it is a spiritual journey into  sound, stillness, and oneness. In this newest creation, internationally acclaimed flautist Jane Rutter offers a deeply personal tribute to the vast beauty of the Australian landscape, weaving together her lifelong connection to country with her signature French flute artistry.

Guided by her love for the Australian land—its luminous coastlines, ancient mountains, and timeless skies—Jane takes the listener on a sonic pilgrimage from the sweeping shores of Tathra Beach to the sacred hush of the Outback. Each note evokes the whisper of wind through eucalyptus trees, the rhythmic surge of ocean waves, and the breath of spirit that lingers beneath it all.

The album’s soundscape carries the essence of Dadirri—deep listening, stillness, and awareness—an inner practice that unites the wisdom of Indigenous Australia with the meditative philosophy of Jane’s French flute mentors. Her instrument becomes a voice of universal harmony, one that invites the listener to dissolve boundaries and enter the quantum field of oneness.

Jane’s creative vision is profoundly shaped by the esoteric influences of Zen monks, Rumi, Deepak Chopra, Joe Dispenza, and her mentor Diane Cilento, with whom she studied meditation and the mystic arts at Karnak Playhouse and Rainforest Retreat in Far North Queensland. These experiences infuse her music with an otherworldly tenderness and a rare sense of spiritual alignment.

Her flute has a pure, unifying sound that envelops listeners, allowing them to relax, feel deeply loved, and sense their connection to all life. Meditations on Australia captures the mysterious thread that binds nature, consciousness, and music into one harmonious whole. You are invited to listen deeply, attune to stillness, and awaken to the music of the universe within.

MEDITATIONS ON AUSTRALIA TRACKS

• Yaloo! (A Valediction Forbidding Mourning)  

Inspired by John Donne’s timeless poem, this piece was written in the stillness of the Covid years. In D major, it reflects constancy of love amid change — a quiet surrender the triumph of life, and the soaring of the spirit.

• Botany Bay Irish Whistle Flute Meditation

A lyrical meeting of cultures. Growing up in Sydney’s Mosman Bay — once an early whaling site — the track is accompanied by whale song and the creak of old wooden boats. I lament the loss of those gentle whales. This piece nods to Old England while recognising that the First Fleet arrived at a land already rich with hundreds of Indigenous nations. I reflect on our shared history, acknowledging both the hardships endured by First Nations peoples and their enduring generosity. What unites us all is being Australian and our deep love for the country we call home.

• Brolgas Dancing Flute Meditation  

Inspired by Sydney Long’s paintings Pan and Out on the Plains, and my time as a Channel 9 Getaway presenter, the flute follows the graceful movement of brolgas dancing across the plains — a celebration of nature’s balance and beauty.

• Rainforest Meditation Kuku Yalanji  

Honouring the Daintree’s sacred energy and the 99 Names of God, this piece celebrates divinity in nature. Morning birds, creeks, and rainforest sounds recorded at Karnak accompany melodies built around the flattened fifth — a tone that musically embodies mystery and reverence.

• We Are Australian Flute and Didgeridoo Meditation  

Connecting with the reflection in “Botany Bay,” this piece expresses unity and shared belonging. As Hugh Mackay once observed, long before European arrival, this continent was already home to many thriving cultures. Here, flute, didgeridoo, and voice intertwine in longing and harmony — a musical meditation on what it means to live together on this ancient land.

• Camels in Munga-Thirri  

Inspired by Robyn Davidson’s Tracks, the Afghan cameleers, and the mud mosques they built in the desert. This piece carries the steady rhythm of a camel’s stride and the sun-soaked mystery of the Red Centre, honouring those who journeyed across its vast expanses.

• Pied Butcher Bird  

A serendipitous collaboration with nature. The birdsong — recorded by listener Paul Millington and shared via Dr Ann Jones on ABC Radio National — perfectly matched the melody I had already written, as if the bird itself had guided the tune.

• Dadirri: Deep Listening  

With blessings from Senior Australian of the Year Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, this track honours Dadirri — the spiritual practice of quiet, deep listening. Sparse yet lyrical, played on soprano recorder, it explores the breath that connects humanity and Country.

• Mother Spirit

Recorded in a bush cave, this piece evokes the joy of giving birth to my son and honours 60,000 years of First Nations women’s birthing wisdom — the unbroken thread of life through millennia.

• Time on Island: Wallaby Trail  

A joyful reflection on rhythm, discovery, and belonging. Inspired by the journeys of early explorers, including James Cook, this piece looks with humility and gratitude toward the ancient custodians of the land and celebrates our shared connection to it.

The post Meditations on Australia. Flutist Jane Rutter: A Landmark Meditation Album for Summer appeared first on Jane Rutter.

There is a warmth in Italian music that feels almost tangible, as if the melody itself were taking a breath. With AMORE: Timeless Italian Flute & Guitar, my colleague Giuseppe Zangari and I invite you to come with us on a musical journey to feel that warmth. This project is not just an album; it is a milestone in my lifelong journey as a classical flutist and storyteller through music. AMORE is my 26th album, a number that speaks to decades of performance, collaboration, and an enduring devotion to the blue flame of live artistry and performance.

From our first note, the record sings with the bel canto spirit— we sing through our instruments, and with the heart. We travel a musical path from Vivaldi and Paganini to the cinematic tenderness of Ennio Morricone, weaving in Italian folk songs and beloved tunes that have threaded themselves into the cultural fabric of our lives. The result is a listening experience that feels both expansive and intimate, as if you were sitting in your living room or an intimate concert hall with two voices telling one shared story.

Giuseppe and I share a rare musical understanding: our instruments converse rather than compete. The flute and guitar trade melodies with a quiet grace, like two close friends whispering a luminous secret. We let each phrase breathe, balancing virtuosity with tenderness so that every moment can speak clearly and truthfully. It is this balance that gives AMORE its generous heart and its gift of solace.

This project grew out of a difficult time—the pandemic era when we first curated Viva Italia and Swoon Italia for live audiences. Those concerts, performed to sold-out crowds, proved that music can heal and connect when the world feels fractured. AMORE carries that mission forward: to bring hope, connection, and a touch of the Mediterranean sun to listeners wherever they are. It is music we felt compelled to share, and I am grateful to have the chance to present it as a recorded testament to resilience and renewal.

I am fortunate to have led, performed, and recorded across a vast landscape of classical music—recitals, chamber programs, orchestral collaborations, and intimate salon performances. My career has taken me across continents, rich with collaborations that pushed the boundaries of what the flute can say. Being recognized as a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France is a cherished milestone, a testament to decades of dedication, exploration, and a lifelong commitment to musical storytelling. This is not just a badge of honour; it is a reminder of the responsibility I carry to audiences who have supported me through the years.

My colleague Giuseppe Zangari brings chamber-music sensitivity to every note, with a crystalline tone and phrasing that seems to breathe in harmony with my flute. Together, we create moments of stillness and unity—the kind of shared breath that makes beauty feel suddenly possible in a crowded world. AMORE is a celebration of that unity, a quiet revolution in sound that invites both connoisseurs of high art and curious listeners from everyday life to pause, listen, and feel.

To younger flutists and aspiring musicians: this album is for you as much as it is for seasoned listeners. It demonstrates how a mature musical voice can remain responsive, collaborative, and warm. It shows that a long, expansive career is not about shouting over the noise, but about refining a voice, listening deeply, and letting melody guide every choice. If you dream of a lifetime in flute music, AMORE offers a blueprint: cultivate your tone, honour the intimate conversation with your partner-in-music, and always play with heart.

For me, this recording is about love and the Italian art of song. The beauty of AMORE lies in its simplicity: two instruments in perfect balance, offering clarity and emotion in equal measure. If you seek complexity, you will still find it in the layers of tone and phrasing, but the essence remains direct and heartfelt.

AMORE: Timeless Italian Flute & Guitar is more than a collection of tunes; it is a living testament to a career built on curiosity, resilience, and a fearless love for the art form. It glows with the same light that filled our sold-out pandemic performances, and I hope it remains a luminous beacon for listeners who believe in the healing power of melody.

Fan Link: https://ffm.to/jr-amore 

Youtube excerpts https://youtu.be/fbcRsCtABeI

YouTube full album: https://youtu.be/w_QD7bbRZ70

Apple ID: 1835333548

The post AMORE: Timeless Italian Flute and Guitar Jane Rutter and Guiseppe Zangari appeared first on Jane Rutter.

I’m so thrilled to invite you to my next Live at Lunch concert at The Concourse, Chatswood: Ladies of the Night: Streetwalkers, Strumpets & Their Suitors!

This program is especially close to my heart. When I was just 16 years old, as a student of the Sydney Conservatorium High School, I was immersed in the Sydney Conservatorium Tertiary Orchestra’s semi-professional season of Bizet’s Carmen. I was stagestruck, completely devoted to music, but it was this glorious French opera — with its sensual rhythms and dramatic storytelling — that gave me my “lightbulb moment.”

As I played, I remember feeling the music seep into every pore of my body. It was at that moment that I made an absolute commitment to devote my life to music. That production of Carmen not only cemented my love for French music but also inspired my decision to go to Paris to study the flute. So, when I began to curate Ladies of the Night, it felt natural to take the essence of Carmen and follow its spirit into other genres and characters. This concert is a celebration of music’s most colourful heroines and their suitors — women who flirt, seduce, charm, and sometimes shock us with their passion.

A Sparkling Company of Artists

For this concert, I am joined by some of Australia’s most extraordinary voices:

• Peter Coleman-Wright AO – special guest bass-baritone, a singer I deeply admire.
• John Martin – beloved pianist and collaborator.
• Rising stars from the Pacific Opera Studio: sopranos Galatea Kneath and Brea Holland, mezzo-soprano Amelia Bland, tenor Michael Kauffman and baritone James Pineri.

Together, we’ll weave theatrical magic through music, laughter, drama, and romance.

The Music We’ll Share

You can expect a rich program that ranges across opera, operetta, Broadway, French Baroque and cabaret — a true feast! Highlights include:

• Bizet’s Carmen (Card Trio, Quintet, and more)
•  Quando men vo from La Bohème (Puccini)
•  Meditation from Thaïs (Massenet)
•  Der Hölle Rache from The Magic Flute (Mozart)
•  Sparkling G&S comedy from The Gondoliers and Pirates of Penzance
• Mack the Knife (Kurt Weill)
• Stars from Les Misérables
•  The famous Brindisi from La Traviata

It’s a concert that promises fire, humour, and beauty in equal measure.

An Invitation

I feel such joy in being able to share this program with brilliant young singers and collaborators, and to revisit the music that inspired my own musical path.

I warmly invite you to join us at The Concourse, Chatswood, for Ladies of the Night: Streetwalkers, Strumpets & Their Suitors! — an afternoon of irresistible characters, unforgettable melodies, and the magic that only live performance can bring.

With love,

Jane 

 Book Your Tickets Now

Don’t miss this enchanting concert in the Live at Lunch series.

 Reserve your seats now at The Concourse box office

Jane Rutter +61433158026
French Flute, Flute Spirit
Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres
Artistic Director, Live at Lunch The Concourse, Chatswood
Fellow, Australian Institute of Music
https://www.janerutter.com 
https://www.facebook.com/JaneRutterFrenchFlute
Spotify~https://bit.ly/JaneRutterFluteSpotify
AppleMusic~https://music.apple.com/au/artist/jane-rutter/252935026        
Youtube~www.youtube.com/user/JaneRutterFan
Jane Rutter chooses to fly Etihad Airways

The post Ladies of the Night: Streetwalkers, Strumpets & Their Suitors! appeared first on Jane Rutter.

It is paramount to me to have a beautiful flute sound: one that represents all the inflections of the human voice, as did my mentor, Jean-Pierre Rampal. Students often ask me how I make my sound and I often reply, ‘it’s because I’m not shouting through my flute’. A sound that is flexible, and that changes in the way conversation changes, conveying tenderness, passion, excitement, calm, and a myriad of other emotions, is the one I seek.

For me there are secret ingredients in the production of a good flute sound:

• Always play with communicative intent. 

• Focus on the colours you wish to convey.

• Follow the vocal line and the narrative in the music. 

• Play as if you’re talking to someone you love! 

• Connect your sound to your heart-centre.

On a technical level my advice for an effective practice routine is:

1. Spend a significant amount of time on flute sound and tone development. This should be done at the beginning of practice. A ‘solid gold’ for me: Marcel Moyse’s ‘De la Sonorité’ exercise 1, covering the entire range, including ascending from the lowest note on the flute, to the top note and back down to the note on which you started. (I only repeat each two-note phrase if I’m dissatisfied with the first attempt). The great soprano Joan Sutherland once said to me: “I know exactly where each note lives in my body because I practice vocalise incorporating each note every day”… For we flute players it’s important the starting note is in the second octave (B was Moyse’s best note, “start with the most beautiful note”, he said). To produce this note you need proper support. This exercise sets up your entire practice properly. Take delight in it! Once truly familiar with it, you can use it as a basis for tone practice between more than two notes; also in pieces that are proving difficult from a sonority point of view; also as a basis to extemporise.

[wp-video-popup video=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lClBLu0_pQ4″]

Jane Rutter Flute Lesson: Sound & Art of Sonority Exercise 1

Then play other slow interval exercises based on 5ths, octaves & 10ths, joining the sound and playing musically – as if you were performing a beloved piece.

Jane Rutter Flute Lesson: Sound & Art of Sonority Exercise 2

Of course it’s important to be able to play without vibrato, on demand, however it is my firm belief that in the practice of the sound, musical expression and vibrato should be present. Also play some beautiful slow pieces / phrases [ e.g from Moyse’s ‘Tone Development Through Interpretation’ or similar. ] Turn yourself on with the sound and the music! 

2. Fast finger exercises (think Taffanel et Gaubert 17 ‘Grandes Exercises Journaliers de Mécanisme’ 1, 2 & 7 [or similar], Moyse’s ‘Exercises Journaliers’, Reichert’s ‘7 Daily Exercises’ & others) – also over the entire range. Make sure the notes connect through the flute sound with no gaps. (Tip: play each phrase/group of notes four times: twice fortissimo and twice pianissimo).
3. Practice all the main articulations, ie: various detachés, (1) Hu (no tongue) (2) Tu, (3) Ku, (in France 2 & 3 are known as the first & second syllables), slurred, double and triple tonguing in simple (no notes repeated), and complex (each note repeated) over the entire range.
4. Scales in thirds, fourths, fifths and sixths, mainly slurred but with varied articulations.
5. Arpeggios – in many different forms, mainly slurred but with varied articulations.

All of the above played on a daily basis

Not always starting on the downbeat. Moving the bar-line a semi-quaver or more can be invaluable for stability of technique.

After the above, practice pieces and studies alternating the order every day.

Altès Méthode Complète de Flûte

There is no doubt that if you can play the ‘Altès Méthode Complète de Flûte’ 2nd Book of studies properly, its exercises and recommended flute repertoire (see image 1), then you can truly play the flute. Jean-Pierre Rampal, Alain Marion, & Raymond Guiot all reiterated this during my years of study with them.

The aim is to be able to play each flute study twice through without stopping, without mistakes and at the tempo suggested.

Each study meticulously deals with a particular aspect of flute playing that is difficult, and so focusing on each of the 26 studies for a week (or two) at a time means that you are ironing out any issues with that aspect.

(Of course, I am not talking about extended flute techniques here – for that you will need to pursue other methods).

The Altès studies are musically satisfying and charming. The French edition by Éditions Alphonse Leduc  in which there is a second flute part for the teacher to play along with the student, and vice versa is recommended, and is invaluable in terms of intonation, technique and musicality.

As an alternative to the routine mentioned above, Altès recommends that during the week of practising a particular study, you should especially concentrate on the technique of the tonality of that study in all your scale and arpeggio practice. (See Image below).

With every flute student I have had, as an initial step and after they have mastered Book 1 or its equivalent, I insist upon a weekly diet of the Altès book 2. Many of my students have achieved professional status.

After my car accident (coma, cracked ribs and a couple of months off flute playing), it was the Altès book 2, (playing 1-2 studies per day as prescribed above), which pushed me through a ‘ring of fire’ to get me back into shape.

I have devoted my life to pushing the boundaries of French flute playing within the bel canto French style – I reiterate the credo of the school, that anything that is possible with the voice is possible on the flute…

Over the past 15 to 20 years through various concerts, presentations, recordings and lectures, I have presented a new take on the history of the flute from an anthropological point of view.

Noting that (as an artefact) the flute is the earliest instrument known to man, dating back some 40,000 years, this thread of the flute is present throughout history. Various flute gods and deities, (Pan, Krishna, Kokopelli and many more), and different types of flutes are found all over the world.

Anthropologists believe the voice of the flute was a tool of communication for early man before language became sophisticated. Great works of art and music have reflected aspects of the flute’s place in history (Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune by Debussy being a prime example).

I have presented this material in concerts, across social media and in papers over the past decades, with much of the work has gone under the title ’Flute Spirit’.

La Vième Convention de la Flûte Francaise, 2016 borrowed this title ’Flute Spirit’ as its own title with my permission.

With all of this in mind, it comes as no surprise to me that the great French school of flute playing (particularly the Rampal school) views the flute as a second voice. 

Pan is the demigod of the flute, and the word Pan implies everything. I praise and encourage all flute players to find the voice within, and to share the narrative of their flute with the world. 

 ©  Jane Rutter 

From Isolation to Inspiration, Book Two

Much of this material was also published in the Elizabeth Koch Online Flute Book in which you will find invaluable practice advice from my wonderful flutist colleagues.

Link to Audio Book

I am available for online lessons & advice.

email: office [at] janerutter [dot] com

The post Flute Sound: French Flute Practice Techniques. Marcel Moyse & Altès Flute Studies. appeared first on Jane Rutter.

Traversières Interview with Jane Rutter~Flute

Jane Rutter is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres ~ French Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters

Internationally acclaimed concert soloist Australian-French flutist Jane Rutter, is a classical trailblazer who has devoted her life to French flute playing in a career that spans decades. 

Renowned for her quicksilver technique, onstage warmth, musical imagination and audience rapport, Jane’s theatricality and musicianship have been recognised by her peers and elders as pushing the boundaries of the French Flute school.

Jane Rutter honours the French Flute School each time she picks up her flute to play… Jane’s playing breathes contemporary life into the French Flute School’s exalted status and recalls its glorious past. I thank and applaud Jane for her passion and enthusiasm, and give her a “bravissimo” for her superb talent!

Raymond Guiot, Professor of Flute, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

Jane is a pioneer in Classical Music relaxation albums and Flute Meditation music. A former student of Alain Marion, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Raymond Guiot, here she is interviewed by French Flutist Olivier Pedan for France’s premier flute magazine: Traversières [2013]. English Translation available soon.

Traversières Magazine Interview

Sign Up to download a copy of her interview

The post Traversières Interview with Jane Rutter~Flute appeared first on Jane Rutter.

French Flute and Submarines. Music: The Language of Diplomacy.. ‘Donnez-moi break? Mais Non! Donnez-moi un concert…’

LIVE AT LUNCH Concert Hall of The Concourse, Chatswood

On Tuesday 26 October, I’ll be performing in SO FRENCH! SO FABULEUX! at The Concert Hall of the Concourse, Chatswood.

French Flute and Submarines: If you have a an international incident on your hands, SEND THE MUSICIANS!!!

Musicians: Amelia Farrugia, Jane Rutter, Vivian Choi.
Best-loved French Opera Arias, Solos and Chansons…

Intended as a musical détente between Australia and France, (after the disintegration of the Nuclear Submarine deal between the two nations). This trio of Aussie Divas is thrilled to be out of a 100+ day Sydney lockdown (after several Covid induced postponements of this programme). We’ll perform French classical and cabaret works for voice, flute and piano by Fauré, Hahn, Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Offenbach, Chopin, and Satie.

[wp-video-popup video=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izytZg89tQM”]

DATE: Midday TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26 2021 
VENUE: LIVE AT LUNCH Concert Hall of The Concourse, Chatswood
TICKETS: phone 02 8075 8111 or online at 

www.theconcourse.com.au 

BOOKINGS 

The Trio of Aussie Divas at The Concourse, Chatswood

Many Francophiles here in Australia anguish over the new mal à l’aise between Australia and la belle France. Indeed the two nations have such a long-standing, rich history of camaraderie, that one longs for a renewal of our fraternal bonds… We three musicians intend to make amends with the soothing, joyful and sublime music of So French! So Fabuleux! (A friend made a comment that perhaps instead of politicians, musicians should have been sent to France… Australia would be friends again with the French by now!)

Throughout my career my flute music has been called upon to be used for diplomacy… I recall several years ago Australian business tycoon Mr Kerry Stokes AC, who invited me to perform at an important Chinese-Australian diplomatic / business event in Sydney. Present were Prime Minister John Howard, the Australian Ambassador to China, and many dignitaries. My brief from Mr Stokes: to create a sense of possibility and international harmony and friendship through my music.

At my suggestion, I invited a young Chinese harpist (Guzheng player) to the Concourse, Chatswood to perform several pieces with me. Thus marrying the music of the two nations in a single performance. And did we had a marvellous time playing together… The crowd were visibly moved…

Very gratifying, for me, after the performance Mr Stokes commented that in just 20 minutes of music. We musicians conveyed more goodwill than was possible in several hours of discourse.

Mr Stokes again asked me to perform at an important private cultural event at his Broome residence in Western Australia. The context was reconciliation and unity, and this time I extemporised on Baroque music- Vivaldi: flute, guitar, voice and didgeridoo. The reaction was also profoundly moving.

Domestic and Diplomatic Performances

On Anzac Day 2021, to honour the Australian First Nations people who fought in WW1, Australian Diggers and my grandfather. I released a version of the Last Post for flute and didgeridoo (see previous blog).

I was thrilled to be able to perform again with Chinese harp (Guzheng), at the launch of an international company Infosalons in Guangzhou, China.

On a trip to London years ago, I was invited by the legendary Philip Hedley to perform at London’s Theatre Royal Stratford East. A gala benefit to raise funds for the underprivileged across different social groups…

In 2000, to celebrate Sydney hosting the Olympic Games, supported by The Australian Government and QANTAS. I was sent-in part-as a goodwill Ambassador to perform in South America, sharing my music in Argentina, Chile and Brazil.

In 2017, I performed in Mumbai and Kolkata… Most memorable in my mind was a masterclass at the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind. A performance with hardly a word spoken. A truly magical exchange with its brilliant music students…

More recently in 2018, as an invitée of the Peoples Republic of China . I toured all over the country, performing Donizetti, Vivaldi, Poulenc, Mozart, Fauré, Bolling, Chopin. Including the classical arrangements of three traditional Chinese songs. The audiences were marvellous and brilliantly enthusiastic…

From a global level to a local level, goodwill diplomacy and unification through music. And the universal appeal of the flute in all its forms, has been paramount in my life. Often on my travels, I find that music opens doors instantly. To be able to communicate instantly through the language of music. It’s truly magical with fellow musicians who don’t speak your language. I marvel at this power of music. Music is indeed a universal language.

Through music we musicians make friends with everyone… It may sound naive, but generally I find it to be true. Music can cut across ideologies religions, borders and tensions… 

The context of my music is always social inclusion. The Live at Lunch, entering its 10th year in 2023 recently constantly underlines this intention.

Join us for this lovely French Concert on Tuesday 26 October midday Live at Lunch at The Concourse, Chatswood.

 Live at Lunch is in its ninth successful year… as with all our performances. Audience members can join the performers for a delicious two-course lunch after the concert. 

Courtesy: The Concourse, Chatswood

____________________________________________________________________________

About the Performers

Follow Jane : Subscribe on Youtube  Facebook    Instagram  Spotify Enquiries: office @ janerutter.com

The post Epic Musique de flute Concert here at The Amazing Concourse, Chatswood appeared first on Jane Rutter.

I’ll be performing in a special, Anzac Day concert.

The Anzac Day Sunset Festival,

The historic Sydney Town Hall, is a venue which has hosted many brilliant star-studded concerts and events over the years. The Anzac Day Concert & Sunset Festival will be a deeply moving ceremony. Featuring a Full Orchestra & Choir of over 50 musicians. The Festival includes a Procession of Flags, The Last Post and poetry and music by Elgar, Parry, Holst, Copland, Jenkins & the Australian composer Septimus Kelly who served at Gallipoli and died at the Somme. 

My  performance in Sydney on 25 April coincides with the release this week of my recording of The Last Post Flute and Didgeridoo meditation, which I will perform in the concert. The recording features Broome-based didgeridoo player Paul Boon.

THE LAST POST FLUTE AND DIDGERIDOO MEDITATION

Recording features Broome- based Didgeridoo player Paul Boon

John Noble Shipton: Light Horse Brigade

(Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps. It commemorates the sacrifice of Australian and New Zealand military personnel who have died during war. Anzac Day originally commemorated the Australian and New Zealand forces who landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey on 25 April 1915 during the First World War. My grandfather John Noble Shipton was a Sapper in the Light Horse Brigade.)

A few years ago I posted a treated live solo flute performance on YouTube of the Last Post, which received a great deal of likes and comments.

THE LAST POST SOLO FLUTE VERSION

Aware that our aboriginal people have fought battle on behalf our country. It’s currently estimated 1,000 + Indigenous Australians fought in the First World War. My intention is to pay tribute by the inclusion of the didgeridoo in the new recording. The didgeridoo player is Broome-based Paul Boon, known for his performances at Womeadelaide and with Hugh Jackman.

This Sunday will be my first performance with sensational pianist

Vivian Choi.

Together we will play the jig from the Serenade opus 7 by Anzac veteran F. Septimus Kelly, written for renowned Australian flautist and impresario John Lemmone.

John Lemmone

John Lemmone was a world-renowned Australian flutist and impresario. A stunning flute virtuoso with a prodigious technique, he was the preferred flutist of Dame Nellie Melba. John toured the world with her, playing  flute obligato, managing and organising much of  her touring life.

One of his most famous flute students, Victor McMahon was my very first flute teacher… Discussing this with another former flute teacher, the wonderfully erudite, brilliant Margaret Crawford. Margaret made the comment that in some ways I am a flute granddaughter in terms of John Lemmone, from the Australian side of my flute heritage, and a flute daughter in terms of my French flute playing heritage with the Rampal School, (having studied with Jean-Pierre Rampal, Alain Marion and Raymond Guiot).

John lemmone flute, (Nellie Melba plays piano):

Wetzger “By the Brook” (Idyll for flute and piano)

Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor: Nellie Melba with Philippe Gaubert, flute.

It is said that Nellie Melba and John Lemmone had an indestructible platonic friendship. It began at a benefit concert for Gottlieb Elsasser in Melbourne in 1884, and lasted until Melba’s death in 1931. Their association lasted 47 years with Lemmone managing concert tours for her. Touring with her as her flautist in Europe and the USA Canada and Australia.

Victor McMahon & Nellie Melba

Victor McMahon was approaching his 80s when I began studying with him as a 10 year old. Initially my studies with Victor were part of a primary schools initiative in which thousands of young students were given the chance to learn to play the B-flat fife. Largely offered to bright students who entered ‘opportunity class’. Amongst others Victor McMahon also taught professional flute players  Don Burrows, Margaret Crawford, Linda Vogt, Jane Rutter, Peter Richardson, Paul Curtis, Geoffrey Collins, and Mark Underwood. I then studied with Victor at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and for short while just prior to his retirement in his studio in Chatswood.

Victor McMahon was an extremely bright, generous, fun loving teacher, a skilled visual artist, a teacher who encouraged his students to follow their own musical and life paths, to value their own individuality, to be true to themselves.

I recall he recounted a couple of amusing anecdotes about Melba:

First  anecdote, as I recall it: John Lemmone was ill and asked his brilliant protege teenage flute student Victor McMahon to step in and sight read for a Nellie Melba rehearsal and concert…

It was a freezing cold Melbourne night.

The heating was less than desirable in the particular hall where the rehearsal took place… Nellie Melba lived up to her nickname of ‘Nelly Long Drawers’ by lifting her skirts to display bright red flannel longjohns, much to the amusement of the orchestra, and the teenage flautist!

Anecdote Two as I recall it: At the time of the rehearsal, Victor was a young teenager who managed the difficult sight-reading with much skill, however he did made a loud note clanger of a mistake in a very obvious spot:

‘Very good little boy, but a B-flat would’ve been better’ said Nellie Melba, again creating great amusement for the orchestra.

John Lemone gave Nellie Melba an interesting moniker, dubbing her  ‘Mrs Napoleon’ because ‘she did things in a big way’…

Flautists will be interested to know that John Lemmone was a full lipped flute player. Unlike Melba, he was diplomatic and considerate of other people’s feelings, 

Along with Melba’s father, John Lemmone is considered the most important influential man in her life… Both Melba and Lemmone had similar backgrounds, with parents who had worked hard for a living . Growing up in Ballarat, John Lemonne played the tin whistle (self taught)

Spying a secondhand flute for sale an the local pawn shop, he borrowed a pudding basin from his mama and took it prospecting for gold in the Yarrowee Creek. Finding gold worth enough to purchase this flute with a few shillings left over. Lemonne had a fine career both as a flautist and an impresario and brought many artists to Australia including Padereski.

The above stories give me cause to reflect-on my own life as a flutist, as an Aussie, and as an artistic director / entrepreneur. I value the threads of history which weave together to make each and everyone’s individual story… My brave grandfather, Lieutenant Commander John Noble Shipton who had a spectacular naval career across two World Wars… The legacy, artistry and generosity of all of my flute teachers…

I had tears in my eyes as I watched the broadcast funeral of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The sense of devotion, the beauty of the music, the simplicity and dedication to service that the whole of it conveyed gave me a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era. I barely belonged to this era and yet I yearn for some of its nobler values. I have a homesickness for the past…

Prince Philip Funeral

I hope you will enjoy the new flute and didgeridoo meditation, my friends. If in Sydney, please join us in the concert…

Sources: I Am Melba-Ann Blainey; Melba a Biography-John Hetherington.

The post The Last Post Flute on Anzac Day Concert Special appeared first on Jane Rutter.

Meditation music with Flute for Australia. First tracks from my new flute album

LISTEN to the first tracks from my new flute album: Mother Spirit Flute Meditation.

Release due April 2021

Botany Bay:

Flute Meditation Irish Whistle, Whale song, Ocean sounds, Gulls, Wooden boats, Chanting.

We Are Australian

Flute & Didgeridoo Meditation

Yaloo! A Valediction Forbidding Mourning

Flute Meditation with Rainforest Sounds & Birdsong

I recognise that for many, Australia Day is ’Survival’ or ’Invasion Day’ — a day of mourning. I hope music can help provide a voice of hope and reconciliation, a ‘bridge of understanding’. 

Reflecting on Australia Day,

I’m aware of our true history: that our First Nations people have been here many thousands of years and have suffered immeasurable loss. In recording and releasing three flute meditation pieces for 26 January, I acknowledge and pay my respects to our Australian Aboriginal people, their ancestors, their wonderful culture, their song-lines and country. These sentiments continue with the release of my further Flute Meditations on Australia.~

The history of the song Botany Bay has such poignancy, so I have treated it wistfully, as an elegy, with a sense of sadness and the past: the impact of 26 January (actually the landing of the First fleet in Botany Bay occurred about a week prior to this date, on January 18, 1788.) January 26 is the day First Fleet commander Captain Arthur Phillip rowed ashore and arrived at Sydney Cove, raising the Union Jack and proclaiming British sovereignty.

~

We Are Australian Flute Meditation

I had the collaboration and blessing of Aboriginal Elder Gavi Duncan (Didgeridoo). Let’s look forward to our future possibilities with positivity,  love and respect in our hearts.  

~

Yaloo! A Valediction Forbidding Mourning:

First recorded as an Improvisation. When I’m composing (my meditation with flute) I initially think of a narrative, and an image…then I find a tonality. I wanted this piece to be filled with hope & a sense of the future, so I chose to hover in & out of the miraculous key of D Major, which is such a joyful uplifting key. The bird noises were recorded just after dawn at the late Diane Cilento’s Karnak Rainforest Sanctuary & Theatre. I imagine the sounds of the Daintree Rainforest would have sounded thus 100s of years ago…

Initially composed for those who lost loved ones in the Covid-19 Pandemic, during the recording process the piece took on greater meaning for me:
I began to relate it to anyone who has suffered loss: the recent bush fire victims and our indigenous people who lost and suffered so much after the arrival of the First Fleet.

Relating it to Australia Day, I wanted the title to convey something historically British, yet also to convey an organically Australian vibration. So I chose to draw inspiration from the John Donne Poem, juxtaposing its images with those of Australia. Divine homesickness. Yearning to be reconciled. A nostalgia for things to return as they they once were.

More info on further flute mediation recordings belonging to this project in another blog…

I hope you enjoy this meditation music with flute, my dear friends… 🙂

The post Meditation Music with Flute for Australia appeared first on Jane Rutter.

Life after Lockdown – Romantic Love Songs & Lullabies

Dear friends, its so great to be living in Australia! I count my blessings each and every day that I managed to return to my home country for the Covid- 19 Pandemic. My heart goes out to sufferers around the world.

At the beginning of the pandemic in some ways I welcomed the enforced break:

NO TRAVEL! What a relief!: I spent much time practicing flute outdoors; I followed the Deepak Chopra Foundation 21 day Abundance course, which gave me solace and insight.

Allowed out to exercise, I began swimming across the bay from Sydney Harbour’s north point of Balmoral Beach to Peggy’s Island (and half-way back), a feat that would have made my father Barry Rutter proud and happy!

I recorded long flute meditation recordings, some of which you can find on my youtube channel and on Spotify & AppleMusic Listen, Some of which I will release later…

The last couple of months I have been lucky to be able to tour parts of regional N.S.W to sell-out audiences (albeit Covid-restricted). Lismore, Grafton, Taree, Port Macquarie, Wagga, Deniliquin, and heading out again this weekend.

Live vs Digital Performance

There is no doubt that a live performance has a different vibration to an online performance. I thoroughly thrive on the energy of having a live audience in front of me. Strange to have been in the situation of a live to air concert with no audience. This occurred when I performed for my concert series Live at Lunch view free concert on youtube, and for Melbourne Digital Concert Hall.

My gratitude and admiration for Chris Howlett and his team at Melbourne Digital Concert Hall is unbounded. They have provided so much essential work for our fabulous Australian musicians during lockdown. Real life savers A big BRAVI this wonderful initiative!

Back to live performance. My brilliant colleague Teddy Tahu Rhodes and I are on the road this weekend with three concerts in two favourite regional venues. Here’s the blurb:

Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour & Civic Theatre, Newcastle present brilliant bass baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes and internationally acclaimed flautist Jane Rutter performing together:

Coffs Harbour Dec 4 at 6pm and 8:15 pm Book here

Newcastle: Dec 5 at 7pm Book here

Uniting their musical genius, Teddy & Jane will raise your spirits and pull at your heartstrings with some of the world’s greatest love songs.

From the passion of Operatic Italy to the Classical perfection of Handel, Mozart, & Schubert. This glorious covid-safe concert also includes yearning Celtic songs, Cole Porter, 

Rodgers & Hammerstein, Carmen and other favourites. 

Performers

Teddy Tahu Rhodes is multi-award winning performer. He is Australia’s favourite leading man of the operatic and concert stage, dazzling audiences with his extraordinary voice and presence.

Teddy has rapidly established an international career on both the opera stage and concert platform. Performing with prestigious opera companies around the world.

Jane Rutter is an internationally-acclaimed concert soloist flutist, considered a major influence in classical music. Knighted by France in 2016, Jane is known for her onstage warmth. She brilliantly conveys passion, sparkling technique and elegance of expression through her beautiful flute playing. 

In this concert she will share her incredible talent with us on different Classical flutes & World flutes and Irish Whistles! 

The stellar duo perform with acclaimed pianist John Martin. Be swept away on a seductive musical journey by three of Australia’s finest performers. Celebrate the end of lockdown with this feel-good romantic love songs and beautiful music!

Stay well and safe, my friends – I hope you will join us in Coffs, in Newcastle, or join me on youtube to catch up on my flute playing and music. Jane

The post Romantic Love Songs and Lullabies – Life after Lockdown appeared first on Jane Rutter.