John Amadio was an Australian flute player, born in New Zealand, who performed with orchestras around the world and made a career as an international soloist and operatic accompanist.
10 Facts About John Amadio
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John Amadio assumed his stepfather's surname and began learning the flute, showing early promise.
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John Amadio performed with the Wellington Orchestral Society at the age of 11 and again at age 12 as a soloist in a flute concerto, with Alfred Hill conducting.
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In 1900 the family moved to Sydney, Australia, and then to Melbourne, where in 1901 the young John Amadio gained his first position as a professional flute player.
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John Amadio married a pianist, Leonora Soames Roberts, in 1916; but they separated in 1918 and divorced in 1925.
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From 1959 John Amadio lived in Melbourne in semi-retirement to care for an invalid sister, Evelyn Gunderson.
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John Amadio died in Melbourne in 1964 at the age of 80, during a rehearsal of the overture to Glinka's Rusland and Lyudmila at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
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In 1919, John Amadio began his international career accompanying Luisa Tetrazzini and performing with The Halle Orchestra, where Henry Wood described John Amadio's playing as "the finest tone I have ever heard".
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John Amadio often shared the stage with performers like the tenors Tito Schipa and Richard Crooks, the bass Ezio Pinza, and violinist Alfredo Campoli.
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John Amadio played a number of Radcliff system flutes, including some in different keys.