Frederick Wilkins

NYFC president 1955-1957

Frederick Wilkins (1907-1968) studied with Anthony Linden in San Francisco and with Georges Barrère at the Juilliard Graduate School (1932-1936); his other teachers included Meredith Willson. He was solo flutist of the "Voice of Firestone" on radio and television, the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, the New York City Ballet, and the New York City Opera. A pupil of Georges Barrère at Juilliard, he succeeded Barrère as first chair of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and as flute instructor at the Chautauqua School of Music. He also taught at Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, and Teachers College. After Wilkins retired from active playing in 1957 he was vice president and educational director of the Artley Flute Co., for which he traveled the country doing flute demonstrations, concerts, and clinics, and was also associated with C.G. Conn Ltd. He wrote The Flutist's Guide, an instructional record and book published by Artley in 1957, and was the soloist in the historic 1956 CRI recording of Henry Brant's Angels and Devils, conducted by the composer, which has been re-released on the New World label. With Julius Baker he recorded the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, conducted by Fritz Reiner, on Columbia.

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