James J. Pellerite
Echoes & Boundaries
Contemporary-styled compositions played on the native american flute stretching musical and technical boundaries
About the Artist:
Listen to his music of a New Age --
As a classical flutist Pellerite has dedicated himself to new musical pathways --- performing with a “difference” on the Native American flute. He assures a respectfulness of the instrument’s valued traditions, and is devoted to preserving the image and time-honored beauty of this wonderful flute. It is heard in an attractive blend of Native American tradition and American contemporary music in solo, chamber music, and orchestral settings.
Many composers have joined in this celebration of new music for the Native flute, and have created this repertoire expressly for him.
Since leaving academia, James J.. Pellerite has pursued a new career --- performing contemporary music on the Native American flute. His publishing company, JP-PUBLICATIONS, well established as a leader in the field of contemporary flute literature, has commissioned works by American composers for the Native flute. Beautiful compositions have been created by an impressive roster of outstanding musicians. They feature the Native flute in solo, chamber, and orchestral settings.
As a performer on the modern flute, Mr. Pellerite is well-known as an orchestral musician. He succeeded his renowned teacher, William Kincaid, as solo flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has held the position of principal flute also with the symphony orchestras of Detroit and Indianpolis and performed with orchestras of Chautauqua (NY), Radio City Music Hall (NYC), L’Orquestra Sinfonica de Puerto Rico, as well, the San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra. His performances have included those under such eminent conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Pablo Casals, Neville Mariner, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Eugene Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski and Igor Stravinsky.
For many years he served as Professor of Flute at Indiana University, and many of his students now hold prominent university and symphony positions. During much of his career as a classical flutist and artist teacher he has appeared throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and abroad. Numerous residencies have included tours to Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and People’s Republic of China. For a return invitation by the National Youth Orchestra of Hong Kong he offered classes and woodwind seminars.
REVIEWS------
From, THE NATIVE AMERICAN PLAINS FLUTE,
by Dr. Richard W. Payne,
Historian, Ethnomusicologist, Researcher, Flutemaker
“Some classical flutists have been drawn to the Native American Plains Flute, recognizing it as a distinctive musical instrument. Prominent in this group is James Pellerite, a distinguished flutist who has developed a classic repertoire for the NAPF which he performs with consummate skill, demonstrating a greatly expanded musical dimension to this simple instrument”
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, Mar./Apr. 2006
“James Pellerite.... His instrument is capable of silky intonations, fervid lyricism, and haunting poignancy. .... It’s illuminating to hear how the tone color of a native instrument can be applied, in expert hands, to modern classical repertoire belonging to the concert hall. Pellerite expands on the traditional pentatonic scale often used for this instrument, into the diatonic, adding chromaticism and showing us the poetic force this familiar sound is capable of.” --- HALDEMAN
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, May/June, 2007
“James Pellerite, once of the Philadelphia Orchestra and for decades the flute teacher at Indiana University, has evidently .... devoted almost 15 years now to mastering the American Indian flute and bringing it to a wider audience. ..... Pellerite manages, via funky fingerings and fractional-holings, a chromatic scale on an instrument that would much rather be pentatonic. It is a formidable technical challenge, but there no audible signs of a struggle in these performances. .... And he has clearly put a great deal of effort into urging, and inspiring, composers to write for it and him.
..... I stand in awe of what Pellerite has accomplished and wonder what future generations will do with these flutes.” --- KREITNER
The Sunday Journal, May 2003 Albuquerque, NM
CRITIC'S CORNER REVIEW
Concert premieres works for flute
By Joanne Sheehy Hoover
“Pellerite's past is an impressive one that includes serving as solo flutist for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and as flute professor at Indiana University. Eight years ago Pellerite fell under the spell of the wooden, five-note Lakota flute.
Like a man driven by passion, he plunged into an intense exploration of its' possibilities, casting aside his modern instrument.”
Jeff Manookian, The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah
“ the magical ambiance cast was definitely through the artistry
of Pellerite.His concert career as a traditional flutist certainly provided him the necessary equipment to provide a most enchanting evening”.
Peter Jacobi, Sunday Herald-Times, Bloomington, IN
‘James Pellerite has made himself the disciple of the Native American flute. He's become its Pan the Piper.
....And then - with the Pellerite lung power and lip control and fleetness of finger maneuvering - the instrument truly did turn into a wonder.’’
Easy Listening: Classical Pop