Patricia Creighton, one of Canada's pre-eminent flautists has performed as Principal Flautist with Symphony Nova Scotia, from 1984 to 2022. During this time, she played literally 1000's of orchestral concerts and many hundreds of chamber and solo flute recital concerts.  She is celebrated for her ravishing tone, deep natural musicality and great interpretative intuition.  She is also a wonderful educator. 

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As a chamber and orchestral artist, she has shared the stage with such distinguished artists as Julius Baker, Rene Fleming, Robert Cram, Victor Yampolsky, Robert Uchida, Isaac Stern, Maureen Forrester, William Tritt, Steven Dann, Fred Sherry, Malcolm Lowe, Erica Goodman, Anton Kuerti, Peter Allen, Jeanne Lamon, Georg Tintner, Simon Streatfeild, Mario Bernardi, Grant Llewelyn, Denise Djokic, , Bernhard Gueller, James Ennes,  and countless others.

 

She has been a regular guest artist with the Scotia Festival of Music and many other Nova Scotian concert series all of these decades.  She has performed across Canada and has guested in the United States, Germany, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, and Italy.

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Listen to many live performances of Patty on her youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/creightonflute/videos

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Patty was featured as a guest on CBC National Radio's prestigious "This is My Music" program on September 11, 2021, sharing with the nation the stories behind some of her favourite music.

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Patty continues concertizing as a solo recitalist and chamber musician and teaches flute at Dalhousie University’s Fountain School of the Performing Arts in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  This coming July, she will be teaching and performing at the 2025 InterHarmony International Music Festival in Piedmont, Italy, and invites flutists of any age and level to join her for a once-in-a-lifetime experience,.

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Abraxas, her 1st compact disc with pianist Peter Allen, produced by CBC, includes twentieth-century flute and piano repertoire. Her 2nd CD, The Transcontinental, represents musical snapshots of different countries. Her 3rd disc is a completely improvised disc with flute, percussion, and didgerido called The Twelve Celtic Winds, depicting the various characteristics of the winds that the ancient Celts studied in order to carry out their daily living.  Patty’s 4th disc, Melodies of Love, is a disc of beautiful melodies the world loves with her Nova Brilliante duo partner, harpist Karen Rokos. This disc was nominated for Best Classical Album for both the East Coast Music Awards (ECMAs) and the Music Nova Scotia Awards.  Her 5th disc, called Wind Song, was a live CBC broadcast performance with pianist Peter Allen and includes works by J.S. Bach, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Debussy, Colgrass, and Bartok. Wind Song was nominated for the 2009 ECMA Best Classical Album. Her discs can be bought through CDBaby and iTunes.

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Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she won many prizes at an early age in the Kiwanis Music Festival – the Ontario Top Prize, the Guelph Spring Festival Competition, and the CBC Du Maurier Search for the Stars. She received a Bachelor of Music at the University of Toronto, where she studied with Nora Shulman and Jeanne Baxtresser. During and following university studies, Patty attended the Banff Centre for the Arts and won her first audition to become Principal Flutist of Symphony Nova Scotia the year she graduated from university in 1984.

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During her first year in Halifax, Patty won a B-Grant from the Canada Council to pursue further studies in Banff. She has also attended the Johannesen International School of Music and individual master classes and/or lessons with Jean-Pierre Rampal, James Galway, Marcel Moyse and Louis Moyse, Robert Aitken, Robert Cram, William Bennett, Jeanne Baxtresser, and Julius Baker.  She had private flute lessons for over 10 years with Louis Moyse. Two years of that time was spent exclusively in Brattleboro, Vermont with the Grand Master. 

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Q&A WITH PATTY 

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Why did you begin playing the flute?
I was always transfixed by the sound as a youngster and the flute looked like a wonderfully beautiful jewel to me, flashing and glittering….

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Why do you play the flute?
I play my instrument because it fulfills an inexplicable part of my soul, it takes me out of the mundane and ordinary, and because it is a great practice which always reflects the inner state of my psyche.  It keeps me honest about myself, and it is extremely challenging. To be the master of a musical instrument is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. That being said, it is my muse, and It allows me to express my deepest, most complex emotions in a non-verbal way and share that with those who happen to be listening. 

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How did you get interested in classical music?
My father absolutely loved classical music so I grew up listening to many of his recordings. My mother was a very accomplished pianist and piano teacher, and as a young child, I would crawl under her grand piano and fall asleep to the sounds of Chopin, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven....

Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov was a pivotal piece for me, one of the first that made me become interested in classical music, and then of course, the orchestral music of Bach, Mozart, Brahms, and many more composers.

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What are your outside interests?
Swimming, long walks with friends, tai chi, tennis, badminton, canoeing, painting with acrylics and water-colours, jigsaws, scrabble, card games, photography, crocheting and knitting, reading, alternative health practices......etc.

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What’s something someone would be surprised to hear about you?
I am a twin.

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What’s your favourite indulgence?
Cooking and flute playing.

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What do you do to relax?
Breathe deeply, meditate, swim, walk, play tennis, lie under a tree, read a book, imagine and dream. 

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