Beethoven: Spring Sonata

Qiling Chen was born into a family of musicians in Guangzhou in China. She was nine when she started to study the flute at the Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou. By the age of sixteen she had already won the second prize in her country's National Flute Competition and enrolled at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music. In 1989 she transferred to the Zurich Conservatory of Music, where her teachers included Aurèle Nicolet, Alexandre Magnin and Günter Rumpel. She graduated summa cum laude with diplomas in solo, orchestral and concert work. Among the various prizes that Qiling Chen has won at international competitions, suffice it to mention a first prize at the 1991 Concours National d'Exécution Musicale pour la Jeunesse in Riddes in Switzerland, a second prize at the 1992 International Flute Competition at Szeged in Hungary and a first prize at the 1996 Kiwanis Chamber Music Competition in Zurich, Switzerland. Released in 1992, her first solo album included flute concertos by Bach, Vivaldi and Karl Doppler with the Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra. In addition to giving recitals and concerts with symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles, Qiling Chen also holds masterclasses in Europe, China, Korea and Japan. She is additionally active as a jury member and committee organizer for various international flute competitions in Europe and China. She founded the Nicolet International Flute Competition in China in 2006 and has organized subsequent competitions in 2010 and 2014. She also founded the Boldern International Flute Festival in Zurich in 2008 and helped to organize two more festivals there in 2012 and 2016. In 2009 she co-founded the Asia Flute Federation with a number of Japanese and Korean musicians. Qiling Chen has taught the flute and chamber music at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music (2005-07), at the Zurich Conservatory of Music (2009-13) and, since 2011, at the Kalaidos University of Music in Zurich. Yoshiko Iwai was born in Nagoya, Japan. At the age of 13, she won the West Japan Youth Music Competition. She studied with Prof. Hitoshi Kobayashi at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku). During this time she won 2nd prize at the 52nd Japanese National Music Competition. In 1987 Yoshiko Iwai moved to Germany to further her studies with Prof. Friedrich Wilhelm Schnurr at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold and graduated in 1993 with highest honour (Konzertexamen). She also participated in masterclasses held by Prof. György Sebok. From 1993 to 1996 she taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold. Yoshiko Iwai has been awarded many major prizes at international music competitions. She was a finalist in the 14th Clara Haskil Competition (Vevey, Switzerland), received the second prize at the 3rd European Chopin Piano Competition Darmstadt 1989 and won the first prize (Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Prize) at the Mendelssohn Competition Berlin 1991. In addition, she won the second prize at the International Geza Anda Competition (Zürich, Switzerland 1994). She recorded several albums (Mozart piano pieces, Clara Schumann piano works and Paul Juon chamber music etc. ) and participated in numerous broadcasting-productions. Yoshiko Iwai lives in Zürich and performes frequently in Japan, Switzerland and many other European countries. Since 2000 she works at the Zurich University of the Arts (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste).