Geoffrey Winzer Gilbert (1914–1989) was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 flutist.

He was born in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, and came to London in to join Sir Thomas Beecham

Thomas Beecham

Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...

's London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...

 in 1933. He was the principal flute of the LPO at the age of 19 and held this position until the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in 1939, when he volunteered to join the Coldstream Guards

Coldstream Guards

Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....

. He served with the Guards throughout the war, and was in poor health by the time he regained his professional freedom in 1946. He rejoined the London Philharmonic (though Beecham was no longer its conductor) and became a teacher at the Guildhall School of Music. In 1948, he founded the Wigmore Ensemble which brought together the outstanding windwood

Wind instrument

A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of...

 players of that generation including Jack Brymer

Jack Brymer

John Alexander Brymer OBE , was a British clarinettist, born in South Shields.-Biography:The son of a builder, Jack Brymer started his working life as a teacher, being at Heath Clark School, Thornton Heath, Surrey in the late 1940s...

, Terence MacDonagh and Gwydion Brooke

Gwydion Brooke

Gwydion Brooke was the principal bassoonist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of its "Royal Family" of wind instrumentalists, along with Jack Brymer , Dennis Brain , Richard Walton , Terence MacDonagh , and Gerald Jackson .Born Frederick James Gwydion Holbrooke, his father was the...

. Dennis Brain

Dennis Brain

Dennis Brain was a British virtuoso horn player and was largely credited for popularizing the horn as a solo classical instrument with the post-war British public...

 played regularly with the Wigmore Ensemble, until his death in 1957.

In 1948, Gilbert joined the BBC Symphony Orchestra

BBC Symphony Orchestra

The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...

 under Sir Adrian Boult

Adrian Boult

Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...

. Sir Malcolm Sargent

Malcolm Sargent

Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...

 also conducted the BBC's principal orchestra and a professional disagreement with this conductor led to Gilbert's resignation, in 1952. He rejoined Sir Thomas Beecham in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...

 in 1957, but, after Beecham's death in 1961, he never played regularly with any other orchestra though he was the guest principal with the London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...

 on many occasions. This led to his long commitment to Stetson University

Stetson University

Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. The primary undergraduate campus is located in DeLand, Florida, USA. In the 2012 U.S...

, and his move to Deland

DeLand, Florida

DeLand is the county seat of Volusia County, Florida. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 24,375. It is part of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 436,575 in 2006...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, in 1969.

He was the father of the television scriptwriter, director and producer John Selwyn Gilbert

John Selwyn Gilbert

John Selwyn Gilbert is a former British television scriptwriter, director and producer.-Early years:The son of Guildhall School of Music professor and flautist Geoffrey Gilbert, John Selwyn Gilbert attended the Hall School in Hampstead from 1949 to 1956, St. Paul's School from 1956 to 1960, and...

, who wrote:

My father was a great player and "a rare teacher" as William Bennett

William Bennett

William John "Bill" Bennett is an American conservative pundit, politician, and political theorist. He served as United States Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1988. He also held the post of Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under George H. W...

 wrote in an obituary. Sir James Galway

James Galway

- External links : IMGArtists.com 15 September 2008. AllAboutJazz.com 5 August 2008.*...

 also pays tribute to him in his autobiography. He inspired more than one generation of British flute players and many of the leading players in British orchestras studied with him or with his pupils. A studio at the Guildhall School of Music is dedicated to his memory and Angeleita Floyd's book about him and his methods, published in 1990, is still available. He was a modest, gentle and dignified man whose only faults were his chain-smoking and his total inability to cook. My mother tolerated the first and compensated splendidly for the second. Her part in his achievement should never be underestimated.

External links

• Official website
• http://www.larrykrantz.com/ggdoc.htm