Born in Taiwan, flautist Yu-Wei Hu studied historical flute with Lisa Beznosiuk and Rachel Brown, and was awarded the MMus in Performance with Distinction and an Artist Diploma degree.
As both recitalist and orchestral musician, Yu-Wei has performed across the globe. Her recent appearances include BBC Proms as part of Arcangelo at Royal Albert Hall (UK), and Shall We Gather at the River with director Peter Sellars as part of Oxford Bach Soloists at Park Avenue Armoury (US). As part of Flauguissimo, the ensemble she co-founded with guitarist/theorbo-player Johan Löfving , Yu-Wei has recorded several albums released under Resonus Classics to great critical acclaim. Currently the Principal Flute of Oxford Bach Soloists and Opera Warberg, Yu-Wei has also performed and recorded as part of many other renowned period chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Academy of Ancient Music, Gabrieli Consort and Players and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
In 2021 Yu-Wei was appointed Modern and Historical Flute Professor at London Performing Academy of Music. Additionally, as a regular historical flute teacher at Wermland Early Music Festival in Sweden, she is committed to teaching and inspiring the next generation of musicians.

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The first thing you do when you pick up your traverso to start the practice day, and why?
The first thing I do is warm up the flute on my skin and sit tight for at least 10 minutes. At the same time, warm up both hands with a nice cup of tea or heated wheat bag. There’s absolutely no point in playing in cold conditions and feeling really bad physically!
When your flute and fingers are ready, turn on the tuning machine with a suitable temperament. As the temperature can affect both sound quality and pitch as well as the wood, it’s essential to warm up the flute and your body properly and double check the pitch and intonation while practising.
Any recurring piece to play every day, and why?​
I don’t have a recurring piece to play everyday. However, I play simple scales and improvisations in the keys of the pieces I am working on at the moment.
Do you have a daily routine?​
No, it depends on my working schedule.
What kind of goals do you set for your practice?​
The ultimate goal of performance is always to touch the audience's hearts, and practice is the process through which we gradually get closer to that goal. It can be divided into several intertwined stages and levels: accuracy, technicality, freedom (with both phrasing and ornamentation!) and expression, which I work on every day.
Do you do any systematic warm-up?
Usually I do a set of scales from Mathilda Marchesi’s ‘Bel Canto: A Theoretical and Practical Vocal Method (op.31)’.  
I typically use the exercises on page 20 all in the same key, starting from D, and then move on to the next chromatic key upwards. I also often play the no. 139 and 140 on page 42. Originally, I was given these scales by my teacher Lisa Beznosiuk years ago, and they are so good, so I still use them all the time! 
I practise both simple and complicated keys to explore the colours of cross-fingering notes.
Personally I think tone exercise should be easy to remember so you can focus on listening (instead of just reading!). These simple exercises cover frequently-used scale patterns in the baroque repertoire, and it requires a lot of flexibility and adjustment of muscles and air streams if you aim at playing them in tune and super smoothly. It helps not only legato phrases but also long fast passages with the double tonguing, tid'll or did'll!
Next, I would practise a whole set of tonguing patterns as a scale, and then trill exercises in relevant keys at various speeds with a metronome. If I have more time, I would practise long notes with various dynamic shapes with a tuning machine.
Do you have a specific structure for warm-up and practice sessions?​
Not really. It depends on the pieces I am working on and how much time I have that day. I might even come back to specific warm-ups, such as articulation or trills, if I feel the needs!
Any distinctive characteristics of baroque flute daily practice vs. modern flute or other instruments?​
Modern flute practice emphasizes homogeneous tone and tonging techniques over fast smooth finger movements; on the other hand, baroque flute practice focuses on different tone qualities and shapes on each note and tonality as well as the variety of light and shade in the articulation.
How long and distributed should warm-up and practice be?
It really depends on how much time you have and how your physicality is at the moment. When I have a whole free day, I might warm up for up to 40 minutes to an hour and then practise pieces for hours (with breaks!) If I don’t have time or feel a bit tired or stressed, I might warm up for 10-15 minutes and then practise the pieces efficiently. Try not to over-stress or over-push when you practise. Always listen to your body.
Are there any tools that are particularly useful for practicing?
I love the metronome and tuning machine with temperament settings! They are such magical tools if you know how to use them wisely.
As far as temperaments, I often use Vallotti as it's regularly requested by professional orchestras, but also other temperaments for solo pieces in different periods and styles. Just remember temperaments are a relative indication, not an absolute truth. We still need to listen to the intonation! 
As to intonation exercises, I would play a series of broken chords starting with the key note repeated as pedal (ideally with the note played on a keyboard instrument if you got one!) in the order of tonic, sub-dominant, dominant, and the dominant seventh and sixth-minor, at least twice each. For example, in C major I would play: CEGEGEC - CFAFAFC - CGBbGBbGC- CAC'AC'AC (and then play the broken chords in reversed order back to tonic.) I would keep the tuning machine on the whole time (actually often on the whole time of all my practice!), and and listen to the nuances of the intonation of each chord as well as feel the different angles of the air streams and muscles. You can also see the “intonation” isn’t always the same as “in tune” on the tuning machine. It’s a very effective way to understand more how intonation and temperament work.
Any other general advice, suggestion, tip?
FIrst of all, concentration is always essential. Practise slowly and observe your body movements including lips, shoulders, arms, fingers, core muscles and even legs and feet! Don’t be afraid to breathe properly, move and be flexible. Listen carefully to the sound at the same time and gradually speed things up.
When you can play the music fluently, think about what you’re trying to express and how to do it rhetorically. Form each phrase with tone, articulation and even with your breathing, as if you are talking to the audience with specific words or emotions. Try a variety of effects - the same phrases can be performed so differently if you aim at different rhetorical effects!
Finally, regular exercises of the core and back muscles can also be very helpful for improving the sound quality and control.  
How do you advise your students as far as structuring their daily practice?
It depends on the students’ needs. In general, I would recommend they cover all the three basics: tone, articulation and trill exercises, then practise the pieces and finally stretch and relax the muscles!