At the age of 22, Bennett started working in his first principal flute position in the BBC Northern Orchestra (now the
BBC Philharmonic). He played with major British orchestras, including
Sadlers Wells Opera, the
London Symphony Orchestra, the
English Chamber Orchestra and the
Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He played and recorded with
chamber music ensembles, including the
Melos Ensemble,
Nash Ensemble, Vesuvius Ensemble and Prometheus Ensemble. As a soloist he had partnerships with
harpsichordist George Malcolm, with whom he recorded the complete
Bach flute sonatas and
Mozart concertos, and with pianist
Clifford Benson and harpist
Osian Ellis, with whom he recorded extensively. In his solo recordings he partnered with
Yehudi Menuhin, the Grumiaux Trio,
I Musici, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and the English Chamber Orchestra, and also recorded with artists such as
Jimi Hendrix and
Wynton Marsalis. He rerecorded the complete Handel flute sonatas, with Harold Lester, and contemporary works such as
Berio's
Sequenza,
Boulez's Sonatine,
Messiaen's
Merle Noir, and
Richard Rodney Bennett's
Winter Music which was composed for him. In addition to recording the standard flute repertoire, he made first recordings of 19th century works by
Ferdinand Ries,
Bernhard Romberg, and
Paul Taffanel. He premiered concertos by
William Mathias,
Diana Burrell and Venezuelan composer Raimundo Pineda, written for him. Bennett had his own record label, "Beep Records". In the 1980s, he was professor of flute at the
Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in Germany, and he taught at the
Royal Academy of Music in London and at masterclasses all over the world. Bennett ran his own school, the International Flute Summer School, and was president of the British Flute Society. == Personal life ==