Ashley Solomon is an English flautist and recorder player, specialising in period performance of baroque and classical music on the recorder and historical flutes.
As Director of Florilegium much of Ashley’s time is spent working and performing with Florilegium, the ensemble he co-founded in 1991. They have a busy touring schedule and each year perform at major international festivals and concert series throughout Europe as well as the Americas. Florilegium have been recording with Channel Classics Records since 1993 and have to date made 19 recordings on this Dutch label.
Born in Sussex, Ashley won a recorder and flute scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London where he was awarded first class honours. He went on to complete his post-graduate studies there in 1991 with a scholarship from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust studying recorder with Peter Holtslag and baroque and classical flute with Lisa Beznosiuk. That same year he won first prize in the Moeck International Recorder Competition, resulting in a solo debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall. This led to a debut solo recording project for the English label Meridian Records of recorder and Italian baroque flute music which was released in 1994.
He has performed as a soloist throughout Europe, the Americas, the Far East and Australia, in prestigious venues including the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), The Frick Collection (New York), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires) and the Sydney Opera House. He frequently records programmes for radio and television and as well as his many recordings with Florilegium for Channel Classics, he has been recording as a solo artist for the same label since 1998. His solo discography on Channel Classics includes the complete Bach Flute Sonatas (2 volumes) as well as a recording of music for period harp and flute with works by Mozart, Rossini, Gluck, Nadermann, Bochsa and Tulou. Volume 1 of the Bach Sonatas was described by Gramophone magazine as “exceptional…prepare to be uplifted” and it went on to be selected as one of the magazines favourite CDs for 2001.
From 1997-2000 Ashley was a frequent guest principal flautist with the Sydney based Australian Chamber Orchestra when they performed on period instruments. This position involved several national tours each year as well as recordings for CD and national radio.
In 1998 he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and this was followed in 2000 with Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music. Much in demand as a teacher he has been Professor at the Royal College of Music since 1994 and given master classes and lectures in Australia, The Americas, The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Portugal, Norway and the UK. In 2006 he was appointed Head of Historical Performance at the Royal College of Music.
Ashley was awarded the 2008 Hans Roth Prize. The first Britton to receive this prestigious Bolivian award, it was given to him in recognition of his tireless efforts and the assistance he has given to the Bolivian native Indians, their presence on the international stage and the promotion and preservation of this music.
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—Oscar Solomon Straus (1850–1926)