Gareth McLearnon is an internationally renowned and multi-award-winning flutist, composer, arranger and educator who travels the globe every year leading a diverse, innovative, creative and exciting musical career. As a performer, Gareth is in demand worldwide as a soloist, recording artist, orchestral and chamber musician. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, he attended the Guildhall School of Music & Drama from 1999-2003 - remaining in London until 2021 and is currently based in Strasbourg, France.
Gareth’s professional career started early - playing his first professional orchestral concerts aged 17. At 19 he began to play professionally in London's West End theatres, and in the same year was also invited to record a track for the CD ‘Songs for Alexander’ with the World famous flutist Sir James Galway and harpist Marisa Robles. Following his graduation in 2003, he was awarded the prestigious Ian Fleming Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund and a Countess of Munster Musical Trust Award. After a year of postgraduate study, he won a principal flute position in Southbank Sinfonia for their 2005 season.
He has given many hundreds of performances across six continents, and has led masterclasses and education events for thousands of flute players of all ages and abilities. In recent years his engagements have included masterclasses in the USA at Yale University , Long School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Rowan University, Boyer College of Music & Dance, Penn State University, Mary Pappert School of Music and Boston Flute Academy ; in Europe at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama; University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna; The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; The Norwegian Academy of Music; Swedish Royal College of Music; Royal Danish Academy of Music; Zagreb Academy of Music; Ljublana Conservatory; Flutewise Academies; The Gnessin School & Gnessin Academy of Music, Sarajevo Academy of Music, and Central School of Music in Moscow; Jerusalem Music Centre in Israel; in South America at the Campos do Jordao Festival in Sao Paulo, and in Asia at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Taishan International Music Camp in Dalian; St John’s University, Taipei; and the Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan.
Gareth has given masterclasses and performances at the Australian, Austrian, British, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Italian (Flautissimo), Luxembourg (Flute & Piano Forum) Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swiss, Tampere, Adams, Dorian Music (Taipei) and Sir James Galway Flute Festivals; and has performed and presented at a total of six NFA Conventions in the USA, as well as given concerts and masterclasses in Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, Norway, Malaysia, Monaco, Serbia, Slovenia, Taiwan and the UAE. In July 2020 in the midst of the pandemic he teamed up with Professor at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and his dear friend and colleague Agata Igras to create the Fryderyk Concert Hall Flute Course - an intensive week of masterclasses, chamber music and flute ensemble work that had a 2nd and 3rd course in 2021 and 2022. He has been invited to sit on many competition juries and panels over the years including for the 2024 Larrieu Flute Competition, The Dutch International Flute Competition, The Tampere Flute Competition, Towarnicki International Flute Competition (2020 & 2022), The James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition, the British Flute Society Competition, the Cimarosa International Flute Competition, the Marina Piccinini Concerto Competition, the Australian Flute Festival Composition Competition, the Concours Bois Do Ré and The Northern Ireland Flute Band Association Own-Choice Contest.
In June 2013 Gareth was appointed as a Flute Professor at the Yuri Bashmet International Music Academy in Samara, Russia. Since then, further engagements all over Russia have followed on from this academy position including numerous masterclass and concert tours to Moscow, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Sochi, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Rostov-on-Don, Zhoukovskiy, Khabarovsk, Yakutsk, Vidnoye, Vologda, Voronezh, Tyumen and Tollyatti; including several soloist and concerto performances with the world-renowned Moscow Soloists conducted by Maestro Yuri Bashmet himself. The final performances he gave before the turmoil in the Ukraine began in 2022 was in Samara in 2019; Chelyabinsk in October 2020 and in the opening gala concert of the Sochi Festival in February 2021.
Gareth has been Principal Flute of the critically acclaimed Heritage Orchestra since 2009 - playing concerts all over the UK, Europe & The Middle East including concerts, album recordings and tours with International Music Mega Stars such as DUA LIPA, Sir Elton John, RAYE, Tim Minchin; Antony & The Johnsons; SPARKS; Jane Birkin; Ben Folds; GOLDIE; Seu Jorge; Tim Exile; Ibiza Classics; BBC Proms performances with Jamie Cullum in 2010, Pete Tong in 2015 and the Scott Walker Prom in 2017. His other freelance orchestral work includes concerts and/or recording sessions with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Contemporary Orchestra, The VOCES8 Foundation Orchestra, East-West Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, English Session Orchestra and Orchestra of St John’s.
Frequently in the Recording Studio - Gareth has recorded both as a soloist, chamber musician and in orchestra in Abbey Road, Air Studios, Angel, Eastcote, Kore, Fish Market and Retreat Studios for many TV, Motion Picture & Computer Game soundtracks, as well as for General Release Albums and Library Music; including as a heavily featured soloist for the multi-award-winning scores for all of the Guerrilla Games Horizon series of games: Horizon: Zero Dawn, Horizon: Forbidden West, Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Horizon: Burning Shores soundtracks, and as guest artist with the world renowned a cappella ensemble Voces8 - recording two tracks for their chart-topping 2019 DECCA Classics Albums “Enchanted Isle” and as solo flutist in the orchestra for “A Choral Christmas” (2023) and “To Sing of Love” (2024).
As a composer - his numerous works for flute ensemble have been performed all around the world including in such prestigious venues as the Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall in London, The Rachmaninoff Hall in Moscow, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His Fantasy on Irish Melodies for Two Flutes & Strings “Из Ирландии с любовью...” (From Ireland with Love…) was premiered with Maxim Rubtsov with Yuri Bashmet and Moscow Soloists in Sochi in February 2021. His arrangements for flute and piano were first published by Theodore Presser in his 2008 collection of Irish Melodies “Round Ireland with a Flute” - and he has also been published by Trinity Guildhall Examinations in their “Musical Moments” series of graded repertoire for flute, clarinet and saxophone.
Gareth is extremely proud to be the European Artist-in-Residence for Wm. S. Haynes Co. and is a Haynes Artist - playing on a pair of beautiful custom made solid 14K gold Haynes Flutes #54321 & #54322. He plays Irish Whistles handmade for him by William Simmons, a Haynes-Amadeus Alto Flute and custom made Eva Kingma bass and contrabass flutes.
