About Me

Acclaimed for her beautiful tone, detailed musicianship, and innovative teaching techniques, New Mexican flautist Jessica Quiñones blends the fields of flute performance, flute pedagogy, and ethnomusicology into an active international career. She has given recitals, masterclasses and lectures to audiences across the globe.

Growing up in the desert sunshine of the colourful American Southwest, her early years were spent under the guidance of flutist Jenny Paulson-Krueger. Winning scholarships, she then completed a Bachelor of Music Degree in flute performance at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music with Pamela Endsley in Colorado, USA.

In addition to her American training, she studied flute in London, England, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama studying with Ian Clarke and Katie Gainham. Ms. Quiñones later went on to win the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama's (now the The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) most coveted International music scholarship, where she earned her Master's degree in flute performance under the direction of Richard Blake in Glasgow, Scotland.

Ms. Quiñones won the Arizona Young Artist's Flute Competition in 1998 was a finalist in the Arapahoe Philharmonic Concerto Competition in 2002. In 2006, she was sponsored by Brannen Brothers flutemakers as a guest-artist which brought her to America to give a series of recitals and masterclasses.

Ms. Quiñones has recorded an album of the music of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies with Delphian records, released in 2005, which was aired on BBC classical radio that year in Britain. In 2008, her recorded flute improvisations with vocalist Emi Jarvi is  still currently being used by Terlato wine vineyards of California in their recent promotional campaign in the USA. She has played Principal Piccolo with the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra, Assistant Principal Flute with the York Musical Society Orchestra, and Principal Flute with the Yorkshire Ryedale Opera Festival.

As a promoter and believer of the importance of new works written for the flute, many compositions for solo flute have been written especially for Ms. Quiñones. In 2009 she was selected to be the feature artist of Indabamusic.com for her Scottish premier of Pinto's 'Laughing with Angst'. 

Ms. Quiñones is regarded as a 'highly reputable and innovative flute teacher'. Only at the age of 22 she was named by the American Music Teacher National Association (MTNA) as one of the "Most Outstanding Studio Teachers under the age of 30". Her pedagogical techniques have been cited in the UK's Music Education Research Journal for further understanding of flute practice. She has published articles on flute playing, and pedagogy. Her flute research articles appear in the British Flute Society journal, Flute, and America's Flute Talk Magazine.

Embracing her Latin roots, Ms. Quiñones is currently undertaking a PhD in flute performance at the University of Huddersfield where she has received full funding to explore Astor Piazzolla's tango flute music, which enabled her to live, explore, and play tango flute in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2010.

She currently resides in the gorgeous County Wicklow, Ireland with her husband, Phil. Her hobbies include studying 20th century art history, practicing daily Ashtanga yoga, hill walking, running, and creating a perfect chocolate brownie recipe.