Welcome to Amy Yule, our new Principal Flute

Amy gained her master’s from the Royal Academy of Music where she studied flute with Michael Cox and Karen Jones and piccolo with Pat Morris. She graduated with distinction, a DipRAM award and prizes including the Patron’s Award, Woodwind Finalists’ Prize and the HRH Duchess of Gloucester Prize. Prior to this Amy studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Laura Jellicoe, Jo Boddington and Richard Davis. She has been awarded associate membership of both institutions and is also looking forward to starting a new position of International Visiting Artist at the Royal College of Music in September.

At what age did you start playing your instrument, and what made you choose it? Were there any memorable early experiences that made you realise you wanted to do this as a career?

I started playing the flute around the age of 7 at home with my Mum – she had learned to play when she was at school at still had her flute lurking in the back of the cupboard. A few years later I joined the Bromley Youth Music Trust where I got to play in a huge variety of wind bands, chamber groups and orchestras which I absolutely loved. There was also a tuck shop with an excellent selection of sweets which probably helped.

Do you have any heroes on your instrument?

All of my teachers, in particular Laura Jellicoe and Michael Cox who have been real mentors and role models for me. They are both phenomenal musicians and amazing human beings with a really special way of communicating through the flute.

What are you most looking forward to in the rest of this LSO season? Any conductors, soloists or repertoire that catch your eye? Any stand-out tour destinations?

One of my first projects with the orchestra as a member will be Gareth Davies giving the UK premiere of Liebermann’s Second Flute Concerto at the Barbican, this is definitely one not to miss. I’m really looking forward to hearing the piece for the first time from inside the orchestra. Liebermann’s other compositions for the flute are brilliantly colourful and energetic and use the range of the instrument so well, so I can’t wait to hear Gareth’s performance.

In terms of touring, I’m very excited to go back to Japan in the Autumn – for the gorgeous concert halls and for the sushi! We also get to visit Hanoi on that trip and hopefully will have enough time to visit the famous train street as I’m a big train and coffee enthusiast.

If you could go back, what advice would you give your younger self as an aspiring musician?

Take your time, stay curious and enjoy every minute. I feel so grateful to have had very special friends and colleagues to learn from through each stage of my life so far, and it was definitely sharing great music and performances with great people which gave me the bug for music as a teenager. Sometimes we feel the pressure as musicians to perform and feel ‘ready’, but as I’m getting older, I’m learning more to take the space to slow down and listen and learn from the life experience of the awesome people around me.

If you had to pick, what is your favourite piece of orchestral music, and why?

It’s impossible to choose just one, but certainly Bach’s B minor Mass would be high up on the list. Brahms, Berlioz and Prokofiev are also favourites and I particularly enjoyed recording Mendelssohn Elijah last year with Pappano.

What piece of orchestral music would you recommend to someone who has never heard an orchestra before, and why?

Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is full of character and totally captivating, it’s a real showcase for all the different instruments on the stage. A live performance of that or even a video online would be a great way to experience the variety and energy an orchestra can communicate for the first time. You also get a real sense of the section dynamics and team work of orchestral playing when watching that piece.

Does your instrument have an interesting story or history behind it?

It doesn’t have a particular story, but I’ve played on the same instrument since I was about 16 years old. I feel very lucky that it’s still going and putting up with me!