It may be hard to believe a poor Irish kid who dropped out of school when he was 14 years old would go on to become one of the most popular classical flutists in the world.

Sir James Galway, known as “the man with the golden flute” – of which he has three – hasn’t toured without an orchestra for more than 20 years. Now, Galway and his wife Lady Jeanne are coming to Stephens Auditorium.

Galway began his career at the Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, which led to positions with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, in which he played piccolo, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, in which he was the principal flute. In 1969, he was appointed principal flute of the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1975, Galway launched his career as a soloist and within one year he had played 120 concerts, including appearances with all the London orchestras.

After a successful solo career, Galway has become known as an ambassador for classical music, making appearances on “The Tonight Show” and “Good Morning America” and has even played on “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” soundtrack.

Galway has come a long way from his poor upbringing.

“It’s very difficult when you’re really poor like that,” he said, “I’m sure you’ve read Frank McCourt’s book ‘Angela’s Ashes.’ I was like the hero of that book. If you saw me and you saw him together, we’d look exactly the same. We had clothes that had holes in them – and when the clothes got big enough holes we got clothes with smaller holes.”

Galway, who said he never felt poor, became a good flutist – not a “flautist,” he said, as he doesn’t play the “flaut” – because he’s very good at fiddling around and figuring things out, and by doing so he made himself more disciplined. Galway starts the day with two hours of flute playing before breakfast.

“Getting in shape is a question of every day getting the muscles going. You just don’t pick up the flute and start charging through a piece,” said Galway, who said he learns something new each day.

On his current tour, Galway is playing with his wife Lady Jeanne, who is also a flutist and performs regularly with her husband. Together they have been involved in engagements including a fundraising concert with Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.

“I think my wife is very blessed. First of all, my hobby is playing the flute, and that’s what I do, and I actually get paid for it – it’s amazing,” he said. “And the second thing I like to do is spend time with my wife. We have a sort of 24-hour-a-day relationship, which we’ve had for the last 22 years. That’s what I like.”

Highlighting one of his favorite composers, Galway made the decision to make his solo tour strictly Mozart. He said he finds many things captivating about the Austrian virtuoso, including his sense of humor, his spontaneity and his depth of expression.

“He was, in my opinion, the outstanding musical genius of all time,” Galway said.

Although it has been 20 years since his last solo tour, Galway said he doesn’t miss the bureaucracy of orchestras. He said that by being a soloist he’s on a completely different level.

“You don’t have to put up with the internal politics, which in orchestras is horrendous,” he said. “And you don’t have to go listen to people moan about [how] their dressing room is too small.”

Galway said classical music is hard to understand unless you’re coming from education or have a family interested in it. He compared this understanding to the exotic dancers from kabuki theater.

“I know I’d fall asleep in that stuff, because I don’t know anything about it and it takes more than a day or two to figure out. You can’t expect a normal kid to come in and sit and listen to a string quartet and expect them to think it’s good,” he said.

Although Galway is less than optimistic that classical music will make its way into the lives of those who aren’t exposed to it, he still wishes people would give it a chance.

“I would love it if I could get every kid in the world to listen to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony once. It would be a great thing, but they won’t make that leap,” he said. “It’s like my young nieces and nephews who hate eating salads. You can’t make them jump – they’re going to hate eating salads.”