José Corral joined The Phoenix Symphony flute section in 1967 and has remained a member of the orchestra for 33 years.
He has a very large and successful private flute studio, and for many years, he has produced some of the top student flutists in Arizona. During the summer months, Corral is master teacher for the Scottsdale Community College summer music camp.
Locally, Corral performs primarily with two jazz groups: Triad (a flute/guitar/bass group) and the Charles Lewis Jazz Quintet, as well as with many other independent jazz artists. He has received national acclaim as a featured jazz artist with the National Flute Association on several occasions, specifically at the New York, Dallas and Phoenix national conventions. Additionally, he is a frequent soloist with Doc Severinsen and The Phoenix Symphony.
During the national celebration of America's bicentennial, Corral performed at the Kennedy Center with a woodwind quintet that was chosen to represent the state of Arizona.
He is a former faculty associate of Arizona State University, where he taught for 17 years, and a former principal flutist of the Flagstaff Festival of the Arts Orchestra, a position he held for 15 years.
Corral comes from the small mining town of Kearny, Ariz., and a large, loving and very musical Mexican-American family. Whereas many of the young people from Kearny stayed with the mines, Corral's musical talent provided him a college scholarship that culminated in a degree in music performance from ASU, where he studied with former principal flutist for The Phoenix Symphony, Edwin Putnik.