SHORT TAKES : Flutist Galway to Play Magpie

PHILADELPHIA —  Flutist James Galway’s eyes sparkle at the mention of his operatic debut in the title role of Rossini’s “The Thieving Magpie” in its first U.S. performance in this century.

“I didn’t study birds for years to do this. I studied music,” said Galway, 50, who is basing his stage movements on his observation of the chattering, black and white bird.

Rossini wrote the opera using an actor as the magpie who stole the silver spoon and caused a young servant girl to be sentenced to death, but the Opera Company of Philadelphia revised the role for a musician.

The rolling notes Galway plays as he flits about the stage were borrowed from passages Rossini wrote for the violin and flute as parts of the orchestra down in the pit.

Galway, who turned 50 last year, will play opening night, April 16, and his wife and fellow performer, Jeanne, will play the magpie in the second and final performance. On April 17, Galway begins a tour in Southern California that ends three weeks later in New York City.