William Bennett (flautist)

Bennett taught at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in Germany and the Royal Academy of Music, and held master classes worldwide.

[1][3] He studied the flute in London with Geoffrey Gilbert[4] from the age of 15 and went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama a year later.

He rerecorded the complete Handel flute sonatas, with Harold Lester, and contemporary works such as Berio's Sequenza, Boulez's Sonatine, Messiaen's Merle Noir, and Richard Rodney Bennett's Winter Music which was composed for him.

[1][4] He premiered concertos by William Mathias, Diana Burrell and Venezuelan composer Raimundo Pineda, written for him.

In the 1980s, he was professor of flute at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in Germany,[3] and he taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at masterclasses all over the world.

[9] In 1981, he married Michie,[10] a fellow flautist who is producer and director of Beep Records,[11] and has run the International Flute Summer School for 35 years.

[6][7] In 2018, he was awarded the Walter Willson Cobbett Medal by the Worshipful Company of Musicians "in recognition of services to chamber music".