Leonard Lopatin
Leonard Lopatin is a US flutist, flute maker and designer of the SquareONE family of flutes.
Career
He studied with Harold Bennett at the Manhattan School of Music and then with Arthur Lora at the Juilliard School of Music. He was awarded the Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance in 1976. In that same year, he was named third flute and piccolo in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. After three full seasons, he moved to Boston to learn flute making. While in Boston, he performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Opera Company of Boston. In 1989 he created his first SquareONE flute, a concert flute with square tone holes covered by square cups, made to the Lopatin Scale. In 1994 he formed the Lopatin Flute Company to make and market his flutes, both round-holed and square-holed. In 2002 he moved to Asheville, North Carolina. In 2005 he designed and made his first SquareONE alto flute. In 2008 he recorded and produced his "Squarely in the Holiday Spirit!" compact disc, featuring him playing his concert and alto SquareONE flutes. In 2008-9 he designed and made his first SquareONE piccolo. In 2009 he recorded and produced his compact disc, "Squarely Baroque." In 2011 he designed his SquareONE Semi-Professional flute, and finished the prototype early in 2012.