The Bulletproof Musician2026.8 | Lorna McGhee
Do elite performers actually feel as confident as they look? In this conversation with Boston Symphony principal flutist Lorna McGhee, we explore what's really happening beneath a confident-looking performance, and why she's come to believe that confidence is something you do, not something you feel.
Lorna McGhee is principal flute of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has previously served as principal flute in the Pittsburgh Symphony and co-principal flute of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. She has performed as guest principal with orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and London Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as a concerto soloist with ensembles across the U.S., UK, Canada, and Japan. An active chamber musician, she is a member of Trio Verlaine and has recorded several albums, including a Gramophone Editor's Choice selection with the group mobius. She has taught at the University of Michigan, the University of British Columbia, and Carnegie Mellon University, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. Scottish by birth, she studied with William Bennett in London and is a lifelong student of English literature and the Alexander Technique.
In this episode, we explore why confidence might be overrated as a performance goal, how one specific audition where her low notes wouldn't come out reshaped her approach to nerves, why she now works with her nervous system instead of trying to override it, what it means to treat courage as a choice rather than a feeling, and the small, deliberate rituals - from a mantra repeated before walking on stage to a notebook carried into her biggest audition - that help her get through high-stakes performances.
Get all the nerdy details in this month's interview:
Lorna Mcghee: Treating Confidence as Something You Do, Not Something You Feel
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