Lisa Lipton interviews Zach Galatis on all things Zach and then, for a different perspective, conducts the same interview with his mother Elaine.

Zach’s full bio is below the interviews. He is most well known as a flute section member and solo piccolo player with the Oregon Symphony, as well as Assistant Professor of Flute and Musical Theater at Portland State University. We look forward to his September 1st show with 45^th Parallel, Galatis in the Garden, kicking off our 2024-2025 season. On to the interview:

Lisa: What were you like as a young child?

Zach: Oh my god, I have no idea where to start…

Lisa: Okay, how about this: what were some of your greatest inspirations and interests when you were little?

Zach: I was the kid who could name every dinosaur at age four, and I could also name every state if you showed me a map. I guess that’s why to this day I love dinosaurs and maps.

Lisa: This makes sense to me because your favorite movies are Jurassic Park and Titanic. Do you think that seeing these movies as a kid made you more or less excited now to play movie scores with the Oregon Symphony?

Zach: It makes it 100 times more enjoyable. Getting to play Jurassic Park would have been a dream come true for little Zachy.

Lisa: When did you realize that music was not just a passion, but what you wanted to do for life?

Zach: Always! I’m pretty sure… as far back as I can meaningfully remember. The only other thing I ever considered doing professionally was architecture. Which, side note, was Martha Long’s other interest too! We always joke about this and being twins in many ways.

Lisa: As a performer, how do you balance singing and playing flute?

Zach: The mundane answer is that I just get asked to play the flute a lot more. I focus on whatever is coming up next in the same way, whether it's flute or vocals. It’s more about what is coming up next rather than the difference between the two. Recently I’ve been asked to do a flute performance with a group, and then they also asked if I might be interested in singing in that same concert as well. I guess that is some balance naturally happening in real time.

Lisa: What is something surprising about your performance readiness routine?

Zach: I never eat before a performance.

Lisa: Ever?

Zach: Ever. Depending on how important or stressful it is, I may not eat the whole day. So my Oregon Symphony audition began at 8am and did not wrap up until 7pm…

Lisa: But after this long stretch, you’ll eat like nachos or a burger, right?

Zach: I love nothing more than grabbing a big meal after a performance concludes.

Lisa: What is your weirdest performance story?

Zach: Oh f***. There are so many. In the middle of a concert once… at a festival… we were literally performing when a colleague turned to me in the middle of this piece… it was a Phillip Glass piece where we were supposed to have a click track… we did not… in the middle of this, as it was falling apart, the colleague put her instrument down and proclaimed rather loudly while the piece was still happening, “I’m done.”

Lisa: You recently had an amazing performance story where you sang with Kristen Chenoweth. I know you’ve been asked this many times, but what was your favorite part, and what was the most shocking part?

Zach: For the shocking part, I did not expect actually to get called up to sing with her in concert. Totally stunned!!! And my favorite part… was all of it! Every single part of that was the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Lisa: And you got a standing ovation!!!!

Zach: I saw Wicked on Broadway when it came out and had fantasized about singing a duet with her since I first saw the musical. So for it to actually happen was unreal. I would have been a senior in high school and 17 years old when I dreamed up this little dream. So, I guess, ruminate on those wishes!

Lisa: You’re about to start teaching at PSU in the fall, both flute and musical theater. What is something you're most excited about?

Zach: I’ve always wanted to have a full time orchestra job and teach at a music school. I’m really thrilled to be able to give back to students in this way while continuing to grow professionally. I’m thrilled to uplift the programs in the city that promote orchestral and theatrical arts in a collegiate setting. I felt that this was an achievable goal, but very difficult and would take time, and may not happen somewhere that I love. But in fact I love being in Portland, I love my colleagues, and now I get to join PSU! I am elated to be a part of that community there as well. I am especially looking forward to introducing the musical theater curriculum at Portland State for the first time with the School of Music & Theater.

Enter Zach’s mom…

Lisa: What was Zach like as a young child?

Elaine: Oh gosh, he was an absolute delight. He just made everything so easy. He was well behaved, he wasn’t destructive in any way, and he was very entertaining. In his infancy, my sister would sit him on the island in her kitchen, and we would just watch him and wait for him to do something. He could write letters by 2, he could read by 3, he just did everything early. I have a book called Zachisms in which I would write down all the funny things that Zach would say. He also had an unbelievable memory. My sister and brother-in-law took him to the mall and he started talking to a perfume counter saleswoman. They were chatting and she told him her phone number in the course of their conversation. A month later, he was back by the same perfume counter in that mall, and she remembered him. He recalled their conversation and recounted her phone number back to her.

Lisa: What were some of Zach’s greatest inspirations and interests when he was little?

Elaine: In second grade, he read A Night to Remember about the Titanic, with which he was very intrigued. Anything he was interested in we encouraged. At one point he saw the movie Titanic, and in one scene he knew that Kate Winslet went the wrong direction to find Leo, because he knew the layout of the ship! We got him started on piano lessons with a friend who was a piano teacher, and I got him a keyboard at age 6 and then a piano at age 8. When he didn’t want to practice scales, she introduced him to musical theater and fun stuff. I think this was a turning point. My father used to sing a lot of those songs as well, so it was familiar. Zach was just interested in so many things. When he was in 4th grade his school was giving out instruments, and since we already had a flute in our family, I think he gravitated towards that.

Lisa: When did you realize that music was not just a passion, but what Zach wanted to do for life?

Elaine: He liked singing and music just from the very beginning. Throughout his school years he was just always interested. At age five he sang a song called love until the end of time, for which my dad wrote the lyrics. We recorded it and played it for a friend who was a voice teacher. She recognized his talent at that age, and at the time thought he had perfect pitch. He was always picking up and learning new instruments, which was always a theme in his discovery process. Neither myself nor Zach’s father are musically inclined, so to me this was fascinating. I went to parochial school and we didn’t have music. The only thing we had was choir. I was never introduced to musical instruments in the same way. A lot of instruments and things he did actually teach himself, like when he started with the violin. I remember when he picked it up he started squeaking and squawking and I thought “oh, how long is this going to go on,” so I took him for one lesson to make sure he was on the right track. After about a week of practicing, he started to get better. I was amazed when the teacher said he wasn’t doing anything incorrectly, but he was already taking flute and piano lessons, so to tack on violin lessons would have been a lot. He was then offered voice lessons… the rest is history.

Lisa: If you could give any wisdom to parents out there raising young musicians, what would it be?

Elaine: I don’t know if you’ll like this… but don’t listen to the guidance counselors at school. Parents absolutely should talk to other parents of children who have gone to music school or taken this path. Kids may want to go to a certain school to study with a certain musician, but that certain musician may not be there frequently at all, so ask your network or parents of children who have been through it what their experiences are. I can also remember when Zach didn’t want to practice piano or scales, I said to him: “I pay for lessons, I make my part of the effort… if you’re going to take these lessons and you’re not practicing scales and you should be, we’ll just discontinue them.” At the time, my husband said “Don’t punish him with music. Take away other activities as a motivation.” I have to say, that was really smart and effective. You don’t want to punish kids with music who are developing an interest in it. He also loved building blocks, so he got fascinated by architecture. I encouraged all curiosity. But I think he really loved music more when it comes down to it, so I advised him to continue down that path. I’d encourage people to pursue their musical passions and encourage their children to as well.

Zach would like to clarify for the reader that he was 6 or so when he became uninterested in scales on the piano.

A parting quote from the book of Zachisms:

“Never doubt what you don’t know, that’s a true legend.” – Zach, aged 4

Catch Zach next at Galatis in the Garden!

Zach’s full bio:

Zach’s “irresistible energy, appealing tone, and dazzling technique” (The Oregonian) have made him a fixture in the Portland music community. Serving as solo piccolo of the Oregon Symphony since 2012, he also frequently appears with 45^th Parallel as both flutist and vocalist.

Zach has played as guest piccoloist with numerous orchestras around the country, including the symphonies of Baltimore, Detroit, and Seattle, and has appeared as guest principal flutist with the Buffalo Philharmonic, including on their 2018 international tour to Poland. He has also performed at various summer festivals, serving as principal flute of the Astoria Music Festival in Astoria, Oregon, and playing flute and piccolo with the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene, Oregon.

In 2012, Zach was the first place winner of the highly prestigious Piccolo Artist Competition of the National Flute Association, and acted as coordinator of the NFA piccolo competitions from 2015-19. In 2009, Zach won first place in the Mid-Atlantic Young Artist Piccolo Competition, and was a winner of the National Flute Association's 2009 Piccolo Masterclass Competition. Zach was a fellow at the National Orchestral Institute in the summers of 2010 and 2012, and was awarded the Piccolo Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival in 2011.

In addition to performing, Zach is a passionate teacher and sought-after clinician, having given a number of masterclasses and seminars on piccolo techniques. In addition to masterclasses at various schools across the country, Zach has had the honor of being invited back to both of his alma maters to give masterclasses since graduating. After serving as Interim Instructor of Flute at Willamette University from 2014-15, he was Instructor of Flute at the University of Portland from 2016 to 2024. As of 2024, Zach is Assistant Professor of Flute at the Portland State University School of Music and Theater. He will also be pioneering the musical theater program at the school.

For the 2011-12 season, Zach played piccolo / third flute in the Virginia Symphony Orchestra under music director JoAnn Falletta, and starting with the 2012-13 season, he was appointed solo piccolo of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra by music director Carlos Kalmar. During his tenure with the Oregon Symphony, Zach has been featured as soloist with the orchestra on both flute and piccolo, served as acting principal flute, and, stepping outside of his flute-playing responsibilities, has had the thrill of singing with the orchestra along with China Forbes of Pink Martini, and most recently, Kristin Chenoweth.

Zach can be heard on multiple Oregon Symphony recordings, including the Grammy-nominated album Spirit of the American Range. You can also hear him on the Virginia Symphony's 2012 recording of Mahler's 8th Symphony, and on Pink Martini’s collaborative album with the Von Trapps, Dream A Little Dream.

A native of LaGrange, NY, Zach graduated summa cum laude with performance honors from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, studying with Kenneth Andrews, former Assistant Principal Flute with the Montreal Symphony. In 2014, Zach was the recipient of SUNY Potsdam's Rising Star Award for his “outstanding professional achievement in the first decade following graduation.” Zach went on to receive his Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, studying with the Baltimore Symphony's solo piccoloist Laurie Sokoloff. His doctoral studies (ABD) were done at Peabody under the tutelage of world renowned soloist Marina Piccinini.

Lisa Lipton
Executive Director, 45^th Parallel Universe