The only woman awake is the woman who has heard the flute — Kabir. But this woman strikes a very unusual note indeed. And makes quite an emphatic difference above board. A light-eyed blonde Londoner with music running in her genes and rhythm flowing through her veins, talented young flautist Kate Grace is elegance and beauty personified when it comes to producing a ripple effect over the reeds of her flute. She keeps her listeners’ eyes wide open and ears alert in a dazed stupor and many people would willingly vouch for this. Particularly, when it was witnessed recently at the launch of BCL (British Council) Kolkata’s English Language Teaching Centre, where she had rendered a short flute recital. The event was attended by a select gathering including the West Bengal governor M.K. Narayanan.
Kate played an array of musical compositions on her flute only to leave the attentive listeners bemused and transported to an ethereal world altogether. The soul-stirring pieces were punctuated with hypnotic charms and ranged from diverse moods to themes. Variations on a Theme of Rossini — from the opera called Cinderella — by French composer Chopin, Spanish Flamenco Studies, set into tunes by Polish composer Krystof Zgraja, another tune by German composer Georg Philipp Telemann and the evergreen Scottish song Ye Banks and Braes, eternally made famous by Tagore’s adoption of the melody in his Bengali version, popularised as the Rabindrasangeet track Phule phule dhole dhole were some of the interesting pieces she played that evening. “It so happened that when Tagore had visited Scotland in the late 1870s, then he had heard this traditional Scottish song and was simply mesmerised by its dulcet notes. He then incorporated the same lilting tune in one of his immortal nature-odes which even to this day, people remember and frequently hum at public soirees,” enthuses Kate, while narrating the interesting trivia. For the uninitiated, the Scottish number Ye Banks and Braes was originally scored by lesser known artiste Charles Miller and the beautiful lyrics were written by eminent 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns, who was also a pivotal part of the then spurting romanticism movement.
Born and brought up in London, Kate followed her father’s footsteps in choosing her true calling. And she found it quite instinctively having seen her dad playing the instrument since her infancy. “Yeah, you may say that my father Trevor Grace is my first idol of inspiration in my musical journey. When I first heard a classical piece of flute barely as a toddler of six, I was understandably bowled over by its strains and cadence. Ever since, the flute became an integral part of my soul and seeped into my whole system to remain there for the rest of my life,” she recollects with a twinkle in her eyes. Lending a pause with an afterthought, she further muses: “What is music after all, if it doesn’t trickle out through the pores of either the player or a composer’s body and pulls in at the heartstrings of a discreet aficionado!”
Having got enrolled under the aegis of a tutor, Kate started from the scratch to grasp the basic ropes of flute playing. At a tender age of eight and a half years, she initiated her formal training like a diligent disciple. Learning her lessons with great passion and perseverance, Kate’s efforts bore fruits when she graduated with an honours degree in 1995 from the prestigious precinct of the Trinity College of London.
Awards apart, Kate was appointed as co-principal flute with the Yucatan symphony Orchestra in Mexico in 2003. While in Yucatan, she worked on government aided educational projects besides performing with the Cuba National Ballet and with globally renowned operatic tenor Placido Domingo. Kate played chamber music concerts at all the major theatres across Yucatan and as a soloist for the Institute of Culture. She also played regularly for the live broadcasts and recordings for both radio and television.
In 2007, Kate left Yucatan only to return Europe where she was appointed sub-principal flute with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. Kate landed at London in October 2008 and currently has a busy and varied musical career in her homeland to look forward to. She regularly performs with her flute and the string trio, named Atlantic Trio. She teaches flute at the Hill House International School in London, Blackheath Conservatoire of Music and is co-founder and coach alongwith ace flutist Janna Huneke of the new specialist flute course — Flute School London as well as the adult education group, the Flute Ensemble of London.
Pursuing her craft with precision, Kate picked up the finer nuances of the flute as a creative player and insists on the magical gift of imagination that an avid aspirant should possess, in order to play like a proficient exponent with practised ease. A die-hard admirer of the great Swiss flautist Emmanuel Pahud, who played at the world famous Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Kate informs to have floated a flute school in London, early this year to cull fresh talent. “Only a year and a half ago, I opened my institute and started my first batch. There are different time-specific courses, which the present-day youngsters gleefully tap into. You see, unflinching passion, hardwork and discipline are the key criteria that enable an eager learner to cling onto his chosen craft,” she says.
Having purchased an Indian bansuri, made of pure bamboo, Kate sounds highly elated. “Well, recently I’ve bought an Indian flute which is a prized possession to me in itself. I’m trying to play it and imbibe its basic nitty-gritties. It has no keys and is basically a woodwind instrument with reeds built along its surface. It’s somewhat different from the electronic structure or constitution of a flute which is mainly an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air passing via an opening,” she explains.
Incidentally, Kate plays the piccolo with equal panache just as a flute of standard length and size. For those not in the loop, piccolo is the Italian for small and is indicative of a half-size flute.
It is a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments, which has the same fingerings as its larger sibling - the standard transverse flute called ottavino.
During her tryst with the Trinity College, Kate had won the top prize for the Student Union Award for chamber music and was even rewarded with the Gladys Puttcik Prize for her remarkable extemporisation.
Post her graduation, Kate has worked with orchestra and opera companies throughout the UK such as the London Festival Opera, European Chamber Opera, English Sinfonia, English Symphony Orchestra, London Soloist Orchestra and has even toured in Barbados, Central America as well as Europe.