Jane Rutter
International Soloist, Recording artist & Tv personailty
Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres ~
French Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters
10K Custom, Silver Toneholes and Mechanism, OFFSET G, B Footjoint, E Mech, C# Trill
in a childhood lesson with Alain Marion
With Jean-Pierre Rampal
With Raymod Guiot
With Claude Bolling
Internationally acclaimed concert soloist Australian-French flutist Jane Rutter, is a classical trailblazer who has devoted her life to French flute playing in a career that spans decades.
Renowned for her quicksilver technique, onstage warmth, musical imagination and audience rapport, Jane’s theatricality and musicianship have been recognised by her peers as pushing the boundaries of the French Flute school. She has popularised the flute and is a pioneer in classical music relaxation albums and flute meditation music.
Jane Rutter was knighted by France (Chevalier des Arts et Lettres) for her contribution to French Music and culture. (‘Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters’ is a French government award to recognise significant contribution to Arts & Literature). She is considered an expert in the French Flute School, and describes herself as a bel canto flute player — a term coined by disciples of the Rampal School.
Awarded a French government scholarship, Jane studied in Paris for three years with Alain Marion, Jean-Pierre Rampal, and Raymond Guiot. She has lectured in flute, performance pedagogy and chamber music at her alma mater, Sydney University’s Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and often gives flute masterclasses, and all-instruments masterclasses.
ABC’s Limelight cover article [2007] depicted Jane as “a leading female influence in the world of classical music”. ABC Classic FM described her as “one of Australia's leading performance artists”.
Jane Rutter’s performances range from recitals and music festivals to theatre and cabaret venues, from the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall to baroque recitals at La Sainte Chapelle, Paris. Her classical career is enhanced by her skills in world music, music theatre, film, composition and improvisation. Jane has appeared in the UK, Japan, Europe, USA, South-East Asia, South America, and India.
In 2018 Jane toured China as a special invitee of the People’s Republic of China. Her early one-woman classical-cabaret show Tutti-Flutti was nominated for an Edinburgh Fringe award. Another early project, the chamber-funk group, was POSH (reformed in 2017 as Third Culture World Chamber Music). In POSH Jane pioneered percussive flute techniques, now known as flute beat boxing. The group POSH was a forerunner of Yoyo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble.
Jane has released 24 top-selling solo albums (including three of original compositions). A further two solo albums are due for release in 2022.
Jane was made a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Music [2015] for her outstanding achievements and services to music. She is an award-winning TV presenter and multi-ARIA (Australian Grammy) nominee.
Jane Rutter was a founding member of the Sydney Youth Orchestra. An alumnus of Sydney University, prior to studying in Paris Jane studied with Victor McMahon, Margaret Crawford, Don Burrows and Michael Scott. She often translated for Alain Marion in his summer masterclasses at l'Academie Internationale d'Eté de Nice). Jane performed at the NFA Flute Convention [2001], and was patron of the Australian International Flute Convention [2005]. In 2016 she was the select artist to perform the annual tribute to Alain Marion at his residence in Collias, France. She is the only Australian ever to have been invited to perform at the Vième Convention de la Flûte Francaise, 2016. Its title ’Flute Spirit’ was courtesy of Jane.
Jane has performed with such prominent artists as Richard Bonynge, Pascale Rogé, Christopher Hogwood, Yvonne Kenny, Gerard Willems, Simon Tedeschi, Tamara-Anna Cislowska, Elena Kats-Chernin, Taryn Fiebig, The Manhattan Transfer, Tommy Emmanuel, James Morrison, Janis Siegel, Tina Arena, Slava & Leonard Grigoryan, Greta Bradman, Peter Cousens, Daisy Cousens, Teddy Tahu-Rhodes, David Hobson, David Campbell, and has appeared on the same bill as Luciano Pavarotti, Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries), Marcia Hines, Amici Forever, Michael Crawford and José Carreras.
She has appeared as a soloist with The Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Queensland, Adelaide, West Australian and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, Sinfonia Australis (Pinchgut Opera Orchestra), The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, The Australian Pops Orchestra, The Sydney Bach Orchestra and the City of Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra.
For her album Titania's Dream: Puck’s Flute on a Midsummer’s Night Jane collaborated with Janis Siegel, Peter ‘Reggie’ Bowman , Virgil Donati, Tom E Lewis and Oscar nominee David Hirschfelder
Jane played the role of Titania in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Diane Cilento’s Karnak Playhouse.
Rap group Migos used a sample of Jane’s flute throughout their mega-hit Bosses Don't Speak [2016]
Jane was featured Soloist in Yantra de Vilder’s award winning film Home a Place of Belonging [2021].
Jane is a household name in Australia, recognised as a great champion of the flute who plays many of the 100+ classical and world flutes in her collection. She was featured in a 60 Minutes TV profile, in Vogue magazine, and Who magazine (30 Most Beautiful People). France's premier flute magazine La Traversière / Traversières , presented a feature article on Jane in 2013.
An Artistic Director, Jane’s Live at Lunch series at The Concourse, Chatswood, is one of Australia’s most successful lunch-hour concert series.
Following studies in Paris, Jane Rutter founded The Music Scheme, which provided young Australian professional musicians with performance opportunities and thousands of dollars of work.
Jane has produced many concerts at the Sydney Opera House, toured for Musica Viva and performed with The Seymour Group, The Australia Ensemble, and worked as principal flute in the Elizabethan Trust Orchestra (Australian Opera Orchestra).
In 2012 The Australian Elizabethan Trust awarded Jane a fellowship grant that culminated in a definitive film on the Rampal French Flute School. Its soundtrack album, An Australian in Paris was No. 1 on the Australian classical charts, and was nominated for an ARIA (Australian Grammy) award.
Jane launched a recent Australian Music Examinations Board flute syllabus. Her composition Partita for Solo Flute,(based on that of Bach and recommended by Raymond Guiot) is dedicated to Alain Marion and was included in the syllabus.
Currently based in Sydney, Jane regularly performs in her other hometown of Paris. She often receives standing ovations for her flute concerts.
From her first iconic album, Nocturnes and Preludes for Flute, Jane’s sublime flute playing has seen recent releases Vivaldi The Four Seasons, French Kiss, Flute Spirit: Dreams and Meditations; Third Culture, Evening Stars, and Pan and the Angels.
For the last 20 years Jane has presented the history of the Flute from an anthropological point of view. The earliest instrument known to man, the flute dates back 40,000 years- a tool of communication for early man before language became sophisticated. Various flute gods and deities, and different flutes are found all over the world. ‘With this in mind, it comes as no surprise to me that the great French school of flute playing (particularly the Rampal school) views the flute as a second voice.
Pan is the demigod of the flute, and the word Pan implies everything. I praise and encourage all flute players to find the voice within, and to share the narrative of their flute with the world’. - Jane Rutter
Jane is proud to be a Haynes Artist. Wm. S. Haynes Com.playing on a beautiful custom-made solid 10K gold with silver keys: Haynes Flute #53400. Jane also plays a silver and gold 1887 Louis Lot Flute SN:4742, which accompanied Charles Molé to Boston in 1890, and is the ancestor of her Haynes flute. Her preferred flute dealer and repairer is Flutes and Flutists Australia