Salvatore Faulisi conceived and sells under his own label a whole range of concert flute headjoints used by the greatest performers throughout the world.
In addition to those two activities, La Flûte Traversière sells piccolos from the Hammig, Yamaha, and Bulgheroni brands, as well as concert flutes from the Trevor, Altus, Yamaha, Sankyo, Jupiter, Trevor James, Pearl, Vivaldi, Muramatsu and Miyazawa brands.
Whatever kind of flute you are looking for, you will find it at La Flûte Traversière :
Do not hesitate to contact us about any other brand : we will send the prices to you very quickly.
We are entirely at your disposal to help you in choosing your concert flute. Testing studios will allow you to try and compare the flutes you desire.
We hope to welcome you soon at the 42 rue de Charenton - Paris - France.
Extract of an interview with Salvatore Faulisi, published in Tempo Flûte and conducted by Pascal Gresset.
How did you come to crafting ?
Before dedicating myself to that wonderful profession, I learnt to play the flute. I started rather late and was tutored in Chambéry by André Guérin, who was the first prizewinner at the Paris Conservatoire in Gaston Crunelle's class in 1967. André Guérin was a wonderful teacher, very nice and extremely rigorous, and had a sizeable know-how. Through a friend of mine, I met the Burgos family in Chambéry, and they encouraged me. Gilles Burgos, a talented flautist who won a prize in Geneva, became my friend. I was 13 or 14 years old, and like everyone I dreamt of becoming the best and foremost flautist in the world. When I was 15, I realized that would not be possible and dreamt of becoming the second most talented. The following year, I had settled for reaching the third place before acknowledging, a year later, that I was not cut out for the job !
[...] I was 20 and felt a great joy at the idea of coming to Paris to learn a trade. I was apprenticed for five years, until 1981. I worked day and night, on every instrument from piccolo to tuba, even though I preferred flutes. It was a very long but extraordinary apprenticeship. I had two masters I still respect, as they are why I can perform my craft as I do today. One remained for two years at Arlod's, then three more to teach me.
In 1981 I took a sabbatical at home in Paris. I hesitated between settling in Paris or in Milano. Quickly, I was submerged with work. Flautists came to me. After six months this became untenable, so I decided to remain in Paris. The shop, which I called La flûte Traversière (The Concert Flute), opened in June 1983.
Do the flautists who come to you to choose an embouchure express their preferences, or do you guide them ?
We are never 100% sure about the result and do not hold any innate knowledge. We usually suggest three or four models. Depending on what the musician feels and what we can hear, we retain one, before suggesting several variants. With experience, I am pretty sure which type of embouchure best suits a musician depending on his way of playing.
You take part is several flute-related events, conventions, etc., in which you can be found very attentive to the musicians. Is is still as important for you to follow the evolution of the demand ?
It is important for us to go there, whenever we can. We answer visitors' inquiries and meet many friends, some of which we have known for 20 or 30 years. These events are heart-warming, the participants are motivated and we have every confidence in the flautists. I love my work and I love human contact. I am a Latin man! I live in Paris, but I could not live in Berlin. I feel in myself a balance between the Latin side and French strictness. I was born in Sicily, but I am part of the French flute family and its noble tradition.
Copyright Tempo Flûte.
