These are a few words to welcome you to my website, tell you about my albums, and describe where I've been since leaving Pittsburgh in 1974.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, where I was known as Dominic Chirieleison. I began playing the flute in 1963, and studied privately with Mr. Vincent Ventresca (who studied with Mr. Goldberg). I attended Crescent Elementary School, Forest Hills Junior High School, and Churchill Area High School, graduating in 1969. The pinnacle of my musical achievement during my high school years was my participation in the CMU Honors Band under the direction of Dr. Richard Strange. I was fortunate to have been accepted by the band in 9th grade, and to my knowledge, was the band's first four-year veteran, including two years as principal flute. After high school, I put the flute aside for a few years to study Electrical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1973. Then, I moved to New Jersey to work for the Bell Telephone Laboratories as a Computer Scientist. Bell Labs funded my graduate work at Stanford University, leading to a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1974. I left New Jersey in 1976 to pursue further studies in Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. I played flute as a member of Cal's University Symphony in Autumn of 1977 under the direction of Prof. Michael Senturia. Then, I took a full time position with the Hewlett-Packard company in Cupertino, California, where I have lived since 1982. In 1985, I started my computer consulting company, Harmony Systems, and changed my name to Dominic Kyrie (pronounced KEER-ee-ay, and rhymes with Perrier).
I have fond memories of my years in Pittsburgh, and have performed with some of Pittsburgh's rising stars including flutists Joan Nemchik, Marcia Griglak, Chip Willis, Maralyn Prestia, and Mara Sweadner Goosman, and violist Danny Seidenberg, all of whom inspired me to improve my musical skills. It was an honor to have performed with each of them.
My mentor was Dr. John W. Coltman, who served for many years as the Flute Club's Vice President. I was his guest at the monthly meetings in the late 1960s, and I am grateful for his nurturing and encouragement in the understanding of the Physics of the flute. I have fond memories of those Flute Club meetings and ensemble sessions, and also the cheerful greetings by Audrey Sayre. The ensemble sessions were fun, and eventually inspired me to create the play-along album, YouFlute, so that flutists can practice ensemble playing between Flute Club meetings!
Attending the monthly meetings, I was always intrigued by the Duquesne University campus’ geography, “on the bluff” and over a tunnel (the Armstrong Tunnel). After my Freshman year at Pitt, I got a Summer job at a clothing warehouse down on Fifth Avenue, and on my lunch hour occasionally climbed the seemingly endless flight of concrete stairs over the bluff, to dine at the Duquesne Student Union, with its flame-red décor.
The series of albums featured on this website was an eight-year project to record my music "for posterity." To round out my “eclectic talents,” I took up the violin and classical guitar in the early 1980's, and attained a creditable level of performance sufficient for recording the string pieces on the first two albums in this series.
My music production company is Syllaria Productions. Syllaria is a portmanteau (a combination) of Syllable + Aria, and was chosen for its pleasant sound and for a uniqueness property that made it easy to register as a Trademark.My albums, described herein, feature some of my favorite flute pieces including works by Boehm, Borne, Demersseman, Génin, Kuhlau, Quantz, Tulou, and others.
I hope you enjoy these albums and your visit to this website! (Click here for home page.)
– Dominic Kyrie
