About Me

Acclaimed for her beautiful tone and detailed musicianship, Ms. Quiñones' flute playing has taken her to live and play in many parts of the world. She has performed recitals and given flute classes in America, Scotland, England, Sweden, Japan, Germany and Cyprus.

While growing up in the desert sunshine of the colourful American Southwest, the factors of the bi-lingual environment of New Mexico and her Puerto Rican heritage influenced her flute playing from an early age.

Her early years were spent under the guidance of Jenny Paulson-Krueger. Winning scholarships, she then earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in flute performance at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music with Pamela Endsley in Colorado. In addition to her American training, she undertook flute tuition in London, England at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama studying with Ian Clarke and Katie Gainham. Ms. Quiñones later won the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama's 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 flute improvisations with vocalist Emi Jarvi is currently being used by Terlato wine vineyards of California in their recent promotional campaign in the USA.

As a promoter and believer of the importance of new works written for the flute, four compositions for solo flute have been written especially for Ms. Quiñones. She has premiered pieces by New York City-based composer Paul Pinto, and by British composers Joshua Kopacek and Tim New. In 2009 she was selected to be the feature artist of IndabaMusic.com for her Scottish premier of Pinto's 'Laughing with Angst'. At present, a new composition is being written for her by Philip Raynor and and will be premiered in the Autumn of 2010.

She has played principal piccolo with the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra, Assistant Principal Flute with the York Musical Society Orchestra, and Principal Flute with the Ryedale Opera Festival.

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".

Embracing her Latin roots, Ms. Quiñones is undertaking a PhD in flute performance at the University of Huddersfield where she has received full funding to explore 'tango music and the flute' which takes her to Buenos Aires in 2010 for her research.

She currently resides and plays in York, England where she runs the Quiñones Flute Studio, and is also the flute instructor for Mount School.

Her hobbies include studying Expressionist art, Ashtanga yoga and finding the perfect brownie recipe.