Jonathan Booty
Jonathan Booty was assistant principal flute in the Hallé Orchestra for twenty-one years until 2001. A musician of Jonathan’s ability and versatility should be much better known.
Jonathan came from Epsom Downs in Surrey where he had flute lessons at school. He showed promise and was sent to the junior department of the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Graham Mayger and Judith Fitton. After that, he got a place at the RCM itself, where he continued his studies with Graham Mayger, a man Jonathan describes as a very good teacher. He knew what he was doing, remembers Jonathan, and was a good, experienced freelance player without a dominating personality.
After three years at the RCM, Jonathan got a French government scholarship to study in Paris, where his teacher was Michel Debost. Quite apart from the music, Jonathan describes this scholarship as an amazing deal—he got free travel and almost free meals in any university restaurant in Paris, and they were gourmet meals. ‘I had a very nice year in Paris, with luxury accommodation in the Cité Internationale Universitaire. It certainly beats a damp bedsit in Willesden!’
Jonathan speaks highly of Michel Debost, who was an excellent musician with good things to say about tone production. Although Debost had a full-time first flute position in the Paris Orchestra, he held two flute classes every week, on Mondays and Fridays, which Jonathan remembers as incredibly well managed and well planned. The Monday class was devoted to scales, studies and orchestral studies, at the end of which Debost would play the study he had set for the next week. Jonathan remains deeply impressed: ‘If you’re doing an orchestral job, to actually be able to play such difficult studies in front of all your students is quite an undertaking.’ The Friday session was devoted to repertoire. ‘I had to practise like anything in order to keep up,’ says Jonathan. ‘This really got me practising—I had to learn the whole orchestral and solo repertoire. It was a very good year for me.’
On his return to London, Jonathan received a Countess of Munster scholarship which allowed him to have some lessons with William Bennett. Soon afterwards, the Hallé Orchestra created assistant principals in the wind section, and Jonathan got the flute job. His time there was mostly happy, but in 1998 the orchestra almost went bankrupt, so the assistant principal positions were in danger. The orchestra was finding it increasingly difficult to keep going, and it was a bad time financially and artistically. During this period Jonathan did a part-time MusM degree in composition at Manchester University, which he completed with distinction. He then decided to leave the Hallé and to do a PhD, again at Manchester University, under the supervision of John Casken.
Jonathan’s Secret Studies for solo flute was shortlisted by the Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM, now known as Sound and Music). He describes these as extremely difficult works that stretch the flute’s technical capacity to its limit, but he has played them in public. (Secret Studies will be reviewed in a future issue.) He has had various performances of other works. On one occasion he was asked to write for a mixed folk group including Kathryn Tickell, the Northumbrian piper, plus a folk fiddler, a tabla player and a melodeon player. This led to a number of workshops on Indian music and bangra and to a request to play for a South Indian dance company, Srishti. For this, he was required to be on stage with the dancers, playing everything from memory, dressed either as a footballer or as a businessman. The dancers work to South Indian Carnatic music. ‘Think of Messiaen’s rhythms, and it’s just like that,’ says Jonathan. ‘Messiaen pinched all his rhythmic devices from South Indian music.’ JB has been touring with this company ever since. One unexpected benefit was that he obtained an Equity Card and is now doing extra work as an actor on films. (He can be seen in the new Sherlock Holmes and some other films.)
Jonathan teaches the flute privately, which he considers the best thing for him as it allows flexibility. He is a member of some successful chamber ensembles including Trio Fauve (flute, viola and harp), which he formed in 2001 with Chris Emerson and Marie Leenhardt of the Hallé, for whom he has written Après l’après for alto flute, viola and harp.
(Article by Robert Bigio)