John Amadio

John Amadio (15 November 1883 – 4 April 1964) was an Australian flute player who performed with orchestras around the world and made a career as an international soloist and operatic accompanist. "He owed the beginnings of his extraordinary career to a prevailing public taste for operatic soprano arias with florid flute obbligatos."

Personal life

Amadio was born in Christchurch, New Zealand to Samuel Biddle Taylor and Eliza Taylor, and was given the birth name John Bell Taylor. When the boy was one year old, his father died and Eliza took the family to Wellington where, in 1890 at the age of 39, she married a 22-year-old carpenter and amateur flute player, Henry Antonio Amadio. John assumed his stepfather's surname and began learning the flute, showing early promise.

In 1900 the family moved to Sydney, Australia, and then to Melbourne, where in 1901 the young Amadio gained his first position as a professional flute player.

Amadio married a pianist, Leonora Soames Roberts, in 1916; but they separated in 1918 and divorced in 1925. Shortly after, he married the Australian operatic soprano, Florence Austral.

From 1959 he lived in Melbourne in semi-retirement to care for an invalid sister, Evelyn Gunderson. He died in Melbourne in 1964 at the age of 80, a few moments after finishing a performance (with Hector Crawford conducting) of Mozart's D major flute concerto at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Career

Amadio's first professional job as principal flute was with J. C. Williamson's Italian Opera Company. There, in 1902 he accompanied the French-American operatic soprano Clementine de Vere Sapio, who presented him with the ruby ring from her finger and a bouquet of flowers after their performance of the "Mad Scene" from Lucia di Lamermoor. Later he was principal flute in Nellie Melba's opera orchestra when she toured Australia in 1911. From 1903 to 1912 he played in the Marshall Hall orchestra, and from 1909 to 1920 taught flute at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Among his students were the later Australian virtuosi, Victor McMahon, Leslie Barklamb, and John's own nephew Neville Amadio, who was principal flute with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for 50 years.

In 1919, John Amadio began his international career accompanying Luisa Tetrazzini and performing with The Hallé Orchestra, where Henry Wood described Amadio's playing as "the finest tone I have ever heard". From then until 1947, Amadio was based in London, touring with his second wife, Florence Austral, and accompanying well-known operatic sopranos of the day such as Emma Calve, Frieda Hempel, Lily Pons and Amelita Galli-Curci. In 1925, Amadio and Austral visited the United States for the first time, and from then until 1936 they spent six months of every year touring there, performing in many cities including Washington DC, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, San Francisco and New York City. Amadio often shared the stage with performers like the tenors Tito Schipa and Richard Crooks, the bass Ezio Pinza, and violinist Alfredo Campoli. "In the US, Australia and England they were commonly met by crowds of thousands. They would consistently sell out the choir lofts and require extra seating on the stage."

Flute played by John Amadio and made by Rudall Carte & Co, 1923.

Amadio played a number of Radcliff system flutes, including some in different keys. These included a bass flute, a low-pitched flute d'amour in B-flat, and an alto flute in G. He was an early advocate of metal flutes and some of his flutes are in the possession of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

External links

• Photograph and 1920 recording of Amadio playing a Paganini transcription: http://www.robertbigio.com/amadio.htm