Jing YAO, born in Shanghai, has been a faculty member in flute at the School of Music, Shanghai University since 2019. She also serves as guest principal flutist with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra (2018–present) and the Shanghai Opera House Symphony Orchestra (2022–present). Prior to her appointment at Shanghai University, Yao was associate principal flutist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (2010–2018) and a guest flutist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (2005–2008). Additionally, as a guest flute lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, she taught chamber music and orchestral excerpts under the Shanghai Summit Subject Course Program.

 

Yao earned her Master’s degree in Flute Performance from the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, Switzerland, studying under Professor José-Daniel Castellon in 2010. That same year, she was featured in an exclusive interview
on ESPACE2 (Radio Suisse Romande), accompanied by a highly acclaimed live broadcast of her trio concert.

 

Yao is also a prizewinner in both solo and chamber music categories across several international competitions.
Highly sought after as a soloist, Yao has performed in renowned concert venues throughout China and internationally. As a member of Ensemble Les Amis (ELA), a group highly acclaimed for introducing and performing contemporary music in China, she featured on the 2016 NAXOS release Chamber Works, Vol. II by Daqun Jia. In 2017, her performance on Xiaoyong Chen's Imaginative Reflections (released by Col-legno) earned her the Best Performer Award, and the album itself won the German Record Critics' Award.

 

Her recent recordings, Yao Jing Flute Album and Boehm: 24 Caprices, released under the prestigious recording series of the Shanghai University School of Music, have both received widespread critical acclaim.