Each member of the chamber trio Zephyr has enjoyed a long and varied musical life, collecting an impressive list of personal achievements along the way. Together as a trio since 2000, Zephyr use their varied chamber music and solo backgrounds to create interesting duo/trio programs, their repertoire include the works of Haydn, Damase, Francaix, Villa-Lobos, Debussy, Ravel, Weber and Martinu. Their probing musicality and intelligence keep listeners absorbed from the first note to the last, and will assure them places in the hearts of music lovers everywhere.

Individual biographies:

An accomplished flutist, LADY JEANNE GALWAY continues to grace the international platforms with her virtuosity. One of the leading female flute soloists of the decade, Lady Galway brings to the audience her unique style and elegance.

Her touring schedule regularly takes her to many of the major cities in the U.S. to perform as soloist with orchestras such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Denver and the National Symphony. Internationally, she has appeared in the cultural capitals of the world including London, New York, Milan, Rome, Vienna, Salzburg, Zurich, Dublin, Belfast, Tokyo, Beijing and Singapore.

Appearing regularly as the premiere flute duo partner with her husband Sir James Galway, the two delight audiences and bring a rare freshness to the platform, unique in the music world.

In addition to her highly successful career as a soloist, Lady Galway is also an accomplished chamber musician, touring regularly with her trio Zephyr (pianist Jonathan Feldman and cellist Darrett Adkins). Alongside their concert performances, they look forward to sharing their expertise as a group with the chamber musicians of tomorrow. The group’s first recording Zephyr – Winds of Romance, includes works by Haydn, Martinu and Weber. This year Zephyr will present a varied program of works by Francaix, Debussy, Damase, Gaubert and Libermann, all of which were commissioned for the group by Sir James. Lady Galway also continues to collaborate in recital with Phillip Moll and a varied array of ensembles.

Her versatile concert engagements include performances in the presence of The Empress of Japan, TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent, The Queen of Norway, The Queen of Spain and most recently, while on tour in Israel, a private performance for President Shimon Peres.

Recent highlights include a concert at the Hollywood Bowl performing with Sir James, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and a group of young flutists from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Outreach program. This appearance was followed by a very special filming and recording of the Vivaldi Double concerto with Sir James, Claudio Scimone (conductor) and the I Solisti Veneti orchestra at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, Italy.

Lady Galway’s 2009 U.S. season begins in New York, Palm Springs, California and San Antonio where she performs with the Zephyr Trio. She then joins her husband to perform with the Austin, York and Spokane Symphony Orchestras. She will perform as soloist with the Charlotte Symphony and continue in recital with her husband and the highly acclaimed pianist Christopher O’Riley in Houston, Arizona and New York. This summer she will return to perform with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival with James Conlin (conductor) and Sir James. She will also make her debut at the Tanglewood Festival.

Other international concerts include a tour with the Israel Camerata Jerusalem under Maestro Avner Biron, to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Madrid and Luzern, Switzerland; and appearances with the L’Orchestre de Cannes under the direction of Maestro Philippe Bender in Cannes, Maribor and Bratislava, Slovenia. She continues in recital at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France and the CRR Concert Hall in Istanbul, Turkey. She will perform with the European Union Chamber Orchestra in Italy, the Zürich Chamber Orchestra in Zürich and Bern, Switzerland, and also appear with the RTÉ National Concert Orchestra in Limerick. Lady Galway concludes the season performing in Italy and the United Kingdom.

Actively pursuing her love of teaching, Lady Galway dedicates much of her time to working with the younger generation through her articles, master-classes and recordings. She is co-founder of the Galway Junior Network, an interactive website aimed towards the younger, less advanced flutist, offering tips and advice on flute playing, performing and career management. Both Sir James and Lady Galway teach at their International Flute School in Weggis, Switzerland, held each summer, which gives them the opportunity to personally nurture students of every level.

Lady Galway serves as a patron to the charity Future Talent headed by the Duchess of Kent. Her versatile concert engagements are often for fundraising events for UNICEF, SOS, FARA and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

She has recorded to critical acclaim for RCA Victor, BMG Classics and Deutsche Grammophon. Irish America Magazine awarded Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway the “2008 Spirit of Ireland” award in recognition for their roles as musical ambassadors.

A native of New York and graduate of the New York City’s Mannes College of Music, Lady Galway lives with her husband, Sir James Galway in Switzerland. She is currently performing on a new 18 carat gold Nagahara flute.

Pianist JONATHAN FELDMAN, recognized by colleagues and critics worldwide as a leading chamber musician and accompanist, has performed on four continents with some of the world's greatest instrumentalists. Among these have been the legendary Nathan Milstein, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, James Galway, Sarah Chang and Joshua Bell. As a chamber musician, he appears in concert as a member of the trio, Zephyr and performs regularly with the New York Philharmonic and the Philharmonic Ensemble concerts at Lincoln Center. This past October, Mr. Feldman made his debut with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and was a featured performer in Live From Lincoln Center with Gil Shaham, which was broadcast throughout the United States on PBS.

In 1989 Mr. Feldman joined the faculty of the Juilliard School, where he now serves as chairman of the Collaborative Piano department. A graduate of Juilliard, his teachers have included Dorothy Taubman, Rosetta Goodkind and Irwin Freundlich. Mr. Feldman has given master classes throughout the United States and the Far East and has lectured at international festivals and competitions. He has played chamber music at many summer festivals, including Tanglewood, Bridgehampton, Music from Angel Fire, Hidden Valley and Music Academy of the West, where he is currently Director of the Collaborative Piano department.

Mr Feldman's most recent recording is with violinist Gil Shaham for DGG. He has also recorded for Angel/EMI, Columbia Masterworks, RCA Red Seal, Naxos, Nonesuch, Summit and CALA records. He can be heard on soundtracks to many movies, the most recent being "Music of the Heart" with Meryl Streep and "The Man Who Wasn't There", directed by the Coen Brothers. Mr Feldman lives in New Jersey with his wife, Judith LeClair, who is the Principal Bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic, and their son, Gabriel.

Cellist DARRETT ADKINS belongs to a new generation of American musicians who are redefining the concert experience. His critically acclaimed performances of contemporary music have inspired critics to call him "Stunning," "Intensely involving," "Heroic," and "Fiery." His appetite to bridge the world between the established tradition and the avant-garde enables him to explore repertoire in almost every genre – from the classical cannon to the contemporary frontier.

Mr. Adkins' New York debut of Samuel Barber's Concerto, with Per Brevig conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Alice Tully Hall in 1999, prompted Strings magazine to call him "an adventurous champion of contemporary music." His Aspen debut was made with just three days notice when he performed Pierre Boulez's Messagesquisse with James Conlon conducting. In the summer of 2002, Mr. Adkins was the "Cellist of Honor" at the Rio de Janeiro International Cello Encounter, where he gave master classes, recitals and concerto performances. King Harald of Norway attended his Oslo debut. His many performances of Norwegian works and with Norwegian musicians earned him a Cultural Arts Grant from the American Scandinavian Society in 2004. Other recent appearances include standard concertos with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Tokyo Philharmonic, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Tochio Soloisten, The Suwon Philharmonic, Seoul's Prime Orchestra, Cleveland's Red {an orchestra}, Orcheste National de UFF in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, the North Carolina and New Hampshire Symphony Orchestras.

Mr. Adkins has given many important first performances. He gave the American premiere of Donatoni's cello concerto at Tanglewood, where he also performed Birtwhistle's Meridian. He gave the world premiere of Andrew Mead's Cello Concerto with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble. In addition, he also gave the first New York performance of Luciano Berio's sequenza XIV, which he has recorded for release on Naxos's complete sequenzas collection, the first such recording. With Red {an orchestra} he helped develop and premier the new dramatic work "Schubert Songbook" which features himself on cello and soprano Arianna Zuckerman in a dramatic setting of orchestrated Schubert songs. In the fall of 2007 he gave the American premier of Rolf Wallin's concerto "Grund" at Carnegie's Zankel Hall and premiered in March of 2008 Jeffrey Mumford's "billowing pockets brightly layered" (written for and dedicated to Mr. Adkins) with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.

An avid chamber musician, Darrett Adkins recently recorded a new string quintet by Jay Greenberg with the Juilliard String Quartet, for SONY. Since 1998, Mr. Adkins has been a member of the Zephyr Trio featuring Lady Jeanne Galway (flute), and Jonathan Feldman (piano). The trio tours regularly in the U.S. They performed the world premier of Lowell Lieberman's Piano Trio which was written for Lady Galway. From 1997 until 2002, Mr. Adkins was also a member of Flux, a string quartet dedicated to cutting-edge music. He appeared in major festivals in New York, Melbourne (Australia), Southern California (Ojai) and Oslo. During his tenure with the Flux Quartet, he participated in numerous first performances, including the first complete live performance of Morton Feldman's monumental Quartet II, lasting a continuous six hours. Alex Ross, the chief music critic of The New Yorker described it as "a disorienting, transfixing experience that repeatedly approached and touched the sublime". The group subsequently recorded the work on Mode records, which was released in 2001.

In addition to the Mode label, Mr. Adkins has recorded for the SONY/BMG, Naxos, RCA, Tzadik, Koch, MMC, and CRI labels, and his recording of duos by Ravel, Kodaly and Roger Sessions, which reached the top 10 sellers on Amazon.com is available from Engine Company Records. Mr. Adkins joined the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College beginning in the fall of 2003 and has been on the faculty of the Juilliard School since 1995. In 2003, he joined the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he teaches cello and co-directs the string chamber music program.

Besides receiving degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Norman Fischer, and the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Krosnick, Adkins also earned a Master of Music degree from Rice University. He is originally from Tacoma, Washington and now lives in Westlake, Ohio with his wife Ingrid and their four children.