Berlin Chamber Music Hall, December 2018 – The 14 Berlin Flutes, Andreas Blau

I play with flutes players every day in the orchestra and my best friend is a flute player but while researching for this episode of Sarah’s Music I realised I knew virtually nothing about this beautiful instrument. So I spent some happy hours googling flutes and discovering all sorts of things – like the first flutes were made out of bird bones, that George Washington and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky played the flute, and that you can beatbox on a flute. Great stuff! But most interesting of all was learning about all the different types of flutes you can hear today – and in this wonderful ensemble featured here on Sarah’s Music, you can see and hear them all!

The first rehearsal (in the middle of the night in Berlin, you’ll find out why in this episode) started with what looked like a lot of plumbing: everyone putting together their instruments. Daniel on the piccolo was of course the quickest, whereas Heiko and Klaus needed longer to set up their huge contrabass flutes. It was fascinating to watch and fascinating to listen to this ensemble play!

Enjoy this Christmas episode of Sarah’s Music with the 14 Berlin Flutes – Die 14 Berliner Flötisten- and wherever you are, have a wonderful Christmas!