Walfrid kujala biography template

Walfrid Kujala, professor of flute at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music from 1962 to 2012, died November 10 at age 99.

Born on February 19, 1925, in Warren, Ohio, Kujala began flute lessons at age 13 when his father, a bassoonist, suggested choosing an instrument that didn't require making reeds.

By high school he was already playing second flute with the Huntington Symphony and studying with its principal flutist, Parker Taylor.

Kujala went on to study flute with Joseph Mariano at the Eastman School of Music, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1948 and his master's degree in 1950.

He immediately joined the Rochester Philharmonic under Erich Leinsdorf and taught at Eastman until he accepted the assistant principal flute position in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner. From 1955 to 1960 he also served as principal flute of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra.

“Wally helped to define the piccolo not only a