Culver City Flute Choir: Agnew + McAllister Duo

Patrick and I went to the flute and guitar concert on Friday night, and it was awesome.

If you missed it, I suggest you check out Aisling Agnew and Matthew McAllister's website for their upcoming performances and see if you can make one of them. Beautiful playing.

What I loved in particular about their performance was the amazing partnership. Both are wonderful musicians, but the way they interacted with each other was special. I don't know if they're a couple? But the way he looks at her and she at him, it was romantic. I haven't seen a lot of classical guitarists; I really loved the way he places his head on his guitar. They were wonderful.

In the video above, Aisling is playing a traditional metal flute, but at the concert, she was playing a wooden flute. I got to speak with her a little afterward, and besides being a big old dork (me, of course), I did ask her about it, but first I told her how much I enjoyed her playing. She really is amazingly talented. Anyway, I've seen and heard wooden flutes before but never really fell in love with the sound. She was really easy to talk to and very nice. She told me that her flute is made by The Abell Flute Company, an American flute maker. She said that though the flute isn't as easy to play as some (it has a piccolo-type headjoint, and I guess other wooden flutes have lip plates and things to make it easier; I don't know enough about this to say anything intelligent other than what she told me in the short amount of time we spoke), the sound of it, once she got the hang of it, was most pleasing to her. I should have asked if they'll be at the flute convention.

Here's a video of Aisling and Matthew performing a piece by Poulenc. She's using her wooden flute here.

Totally gorgeous.

So now I have three things to look for at the flute convention in August: Robert Langevin, Aisling Agnew and Matthew McAllister (I'm counting them as one), and Abell Flutes.

Oh, and the concert on Friday was presented by the Long Beach Classical Guitar Society.

Concert notes:

Hamnataing, by Chris Stout (b. 1976)
Agua e Vinho, by Egberto Gismonti (b. 1941)
Suite no. 2, by Leo Brouwer (b. 1939)
Farewell to Stromness, by Peter Maxwell Davies (b. 1934)
An Chuilin, Irish Traditional
Sonata in G Major, by Pietro Lacatelli (1695-1764)
Suite No. 1 BMW 1007, by J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Wens, by Veronique Vella (b. 1979)
Histoire du Tango, by Astor Piazzola (1921-1992)

Excerpt from bio section:

Flautist Aisling Agnew and classical guitarist Matthew McAllister met in Glasgow whilst studying at the Royal Scotttish Academy of Music and Drama. Their joint passion for chamber music, interacting with composers and performing new music immediately brought them together. Since giving their debut recital in the "Harty Room" of Queen's University, Belfast in 2001, they have grown in popularilty and perform extensively around the UK and Ireland.

As one of Ireland's finest young flautists, Aisling has given performances in the prestigious "Guildhall Gold" series at the Wigmore Hall and appeared as concerto soloist with the Ulster Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Matthew is widely regarded as one of Scotland's finest classical guitarists. He has appeared on British and Spanish television, recorded for the BBC Artists Index, and co-starred alongside Aled Jones in the 2005 Southwell International Festival.