Kincaid, William

William Kincaid is referred as a grandfather of the American Flute School which he helped to shape along with Marcel Moyse and George Laurent.
Born in Minneapolis, he spent most of his childhood in Hawaii where he became a skilled diver and learned the breath control.
After flute studies with Georges Barrèrea at the Institute of Musical Art in New York, he joined flute section of the New York Symphony for six years, briefly leaving it to serve in the US Navy during the World War I.

In 1921 he became principal flute in the Philadelphia orchestra and held this position for over forty years. Starting from mid 1920s he joined faculty of the newly created Curtis Institute of Music where he taught for four decades, making great impact on many students, including his most renown student Julius Baker.