FLUTE

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel-Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones.
A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a flute player, a flautist, a flutist, or, less commonly, a flute

Categories of flute: 

In flute there are several type ther are:

like below

Western concert flutes

An illustration of a Western concert flute

The Western concert flute, a descendant of the 19th-century German flute, is a transverse flute that is closed at the top. An embouchure hole is positioned near the top, across and into which the player blows. The flute has circular tone holes, larger than the finger holes of its baroque predecessors. The size and placement of tone holes, the key mechanism, and the fingering system used to produce the notes in the flute's range were evolved from 1832 to 1847 by Theobald Boehm, and greatly improved the instrument's dynamic range and intonation over those of its predecessors. With some refinements (and the rare exception of the Kingma system and other custom adapted fingering systems), Western concert flutes typically conform to Boehm's design, known as the Boehm system. Beginner's flutes are normally made of nickel, silver or brass that is silver plated, while professionals use solid silver, gold, and sometimes platinum instruments. There are also modern wooden bodies instruments usually with silver or gold keywork. The wood is usually African Blackwood

Indian flutes

A Carnatic eight-holed bamboo flute

An eight-holed classical Indian bamboo flute mainly used for Carnatic music

The bamboo flute is an important instrument in Indian classical music, and developed independently of the Western flute. The Hindu God Krishna is traditionally considered a master of the bamboo flute. The Indian flutes are very simple compared to the Western counterparts; they are made of bamboo and are keyless.
Pandit Raghunath Prasanna developed various techniques in the realm of flute playing so as to faithfully reproduce the subtleties and nuances of Indian classical music. He was responsible for training his own family members. Disciples of the family like Pt. Bhola nath Prasanna, Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, and Rajendra Prasanna Pt. Rajendra Prasanna are known for their music.
Two main varieties of Indian flutes are currently used. The first, the Bansuri, has six finger holes and one embouchure hole, and is used predominantly in the Hindustani music of Northern India. The second, the Venu or Pullanguzhal, has eight finger holes, and is played predominantly in the Carnatic music of Southern India. Presently, the eight-holed flute with cross-fingering technique is common among many Carnatic flutists. Prior to this, the South Indian flute had only seven finger holes, with the fingering standard developed by Sharaba Shastri, of the Palladam school, at the beginning of the 20th century.

Temple car carving of Krishna playing flute, suchindram, Tamil Nadu, India

The quality of the flute's sound depends somewhat on the specific bamboo used to make it, and it is generally agreed that the best bamboo grows in the Nagercoil area in South India.^[31]

Chinese flutes

In China there are many varieties of dizi (笛子), or Chinese flute, with different sizes, structures (with or without a resonance membrane) and number of holes (from 6 to 11) and intonations (different keys). Most are made of bamboo, but can come in wood, jade, bone, and iron. One peculiar feature of the Chinese flute is the use of a resonance membrane mounted on one of the holes that vibrates with the air column inside the tube. It gives the flute a bright sound.
Commonly seen flutes in the modern Chinese orchestra are the bangdi (梆笛), qudi (曲笛), xindi (新笛), and dadi (大笛). The bamboo flute played vertically is called the xiao (簫), which is a different category of wind instrument in China.

Japanese flutes

The Japanese flute, called the fue, 笛 (hiragana: ふえ), encompasses a large number of musical flutes from Japan, both of the end-blown and transverse varieties

famous flute players

The prime focus of this page is to offer information regarding some of the world famous flute players. The world is full of renowned flute players known to not only master this instrument, but also take it into the classical genre of music shows their great skills.
Listed below are a few of the most well known flute players:
Julius Baker As famous flute player, he graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and is known for producing world famous flute players from his studios.

Jeanne BaxtresserShe is best known for being the solo/principal flute player for the New York Philharmonic. Her book "Orchestral Excerpts for the Flute" has become a must-have for aspiring orchestral flute players.

Lori BellWell known among the celebrated flute players, he is an adjunct professor of flute at San Diego State University.

William Bennett He has been the principal and famous flute player with the London Symphony and also received the National Flute Association's "Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2002.

Michel DebostA professor of flute at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, this world famous flute player graduated in 1954 and has been the most important flutist with the Orchestre de Paris among others.

Sir James Galway With over 50 albums in circulation, Galway began his musical career as a young boy playing the pennywhistle. Embarking on a highly successful solo career as a famous flute player, he has a wide variety of music performances under his belt.

Geoffrey GilbertGilbert began playing the pennywhistle at age 6 and went on to become well respected and widely known both as a performer and teacher. He won the principal spot in the London Philharmonic Orchestra at age 19 and later became principal of the Royal Philhamonic, among other orchestras.

Marcel Moyse Moyse's name is one of the well known well known flute players for his method books and teaching practices. He turned out many great flute players who went on to make their own mark.
There are many more world renowned flute players, but to cover them all would not be possible within the scope of this page. However just to name a few more of these celebrated flute players, William Kincaid, Rhonda Larson, Bill McBirnie, Mary Karen Clardy, Tadeu Coelho , Susan Milan, Aurele Nicolet, Emmanuel Pahud, James Pellerite, Johann Joachim Quantz, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Paula Robison, Gary Schocker, Elaine Shaffer, David Shostac, Renee Siebert, Fenwick Smith and many more..

indian famous Flutist:

HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, the internationally renowned exponent of the bansuri or bamboo flute, surprisingly does not come from a long lineage of flautists. His father was a famous wrestler who had aspirations of his son following in his footsteps.

The younger Chaurasia had an early love of music, however, and by the age of 15 was taking his first steps toward a lifetime as a performer by studying classical vocal with Pandit Raja Ram of Benares.
Soon after, he heard a flute recital by Pandit Bholanath and was so impressed he changed his focus to studying the flute. When he was just 19, he got a job playing for All India Radio, Cuttack, Orissa, and within five years he was transferred to their headquarters in Bombay. There he got the additional exposure of performing in one of India's cultural centers and also studied with Shrimati Annapurna Devi, daughter of Ustaad Allauddin Khan of the Maihar School of Music.
There he established the creative peak of his career, developing a style that was respectful of tradition, yet full of innovation. Over a lifetime of performances, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia has become one of India's most-respected classical musicians, earning several awards, including the National Award of the Sangeet Natak Academy, which he won in 1984.
In 1992, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan and the Konarak Samman. In 1994, he was bestowed the Yash Bharati Sanman and in 2000, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan. In the year 2000, he also received the Hafiz Ali Khan Award and the Dinanath Mangeshkar Award. He has collaborated with several western musicians, including John McLaughlin and Jan Gabarek, and has also composed music for a number of Indian films. He has performed throughout the world winning acclaim from varied audiences and fellow musicians including Yehudi Menuhin and Jean Pierre Rampal.

On 1 July, 2008 on the occasion of his 70th Birthday, his official biography "Woodwinds of Change" by Shri Surjit Singh was released by none other than Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. Soon after, Panditji was honoured by the Dutch Royal family at a glittering ceremony at Amsterdam. He was conferred the title OFFICER IN THE ORDER OF ORANGE-NASSAU( “officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau”) and was honored by Princess Maxima herself.  Pt. Chaurasia has been teaching Indian music at the Rotterdam Music Conservatory for the past 15 years. He is the Artistic Director of the Indian Music department.

This year shortly after his 71st Birthday he was honored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of France.  He has been appointed as KNIGHT IN THE ORDER OF ARTS AND LETTER (“Ordres des Arts et Lettres”) in appreciation for the significant contribution he has made to spread culture in France and the rest of the World.

In August this year, Pt. Chaurasia was awarded the National Eminence award, NADA VIDYA BHARTI by Visakha Music and Dance Academy, Vizag.

On 14 September he was bestowed the Honorary Doctorate by the North Orissa University for his unparelleled role and contribution to the world of Indian Classical Music. 
He heads the World Music Department at the Rotterdam Music Conservatory.
He is one of the busiest and most sought-after contemporary musicians in the world today.
He is also a dedicated teacher with several devoted art music students world-wide, many of whom are beginning to make their mark on the concert stage

BAPU PADMANABHA

Little did any one realize that a young lad from tinsel town in Karnataka, whose younger sister bought him a small flute from a village fair, will reach to the heights of one of the favourite disciples of Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia.Padmanabha Bapu, affectionately known as “Bapu” was studying tool engineering in Hospet(Karnataka). His knowledge of music was limited to the notes of harmonium taught by his grand father. He became so much obsessed with the flute that he started treating his idol Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia,as his Guru in absentia. He purchased all audio cassettes of Hariji and started imitating his style, he use to practice for hours together and side by side he was continuously searching for a formal flute teacher within Karnataka.The search however brought no results because he  was actually fated to become a disciple of his idol Hariji.

G S SACHDEV

Sachdev performs the classical music of India, a culture with a two thousand year musical tradition. Western listeners accustomed to harmony initially may be deceived by the apparent simplicity of this melodic music. The complexities lie in the subtle variations on the theme, ornamentation of notes, modal coloring, and in the interplay between flute and drums. Since each note stands alone, special care is given to the purity of intonation. The basis of North Indian music is raga, the melodic form, and tala, the time measure. Thousands of ragas exist, each based on one of ten parent scales. Variousragas are associated with morning, afternoon, and evening, as well as with difference seasons. Beyond the melodic form, each raga encompasses a particular mood and synthesis of emotions which a skillful musician like Sachdev evokes. Improvisation plays an essential part, but always within the established framework of the ragawhich is being expressed..