Singaporean clarinetist Miao Kaiwen recently graduated with a Master degree in Music (Classical Clarinet Performance) and minor in Advanced Teaching Skills at Conservatorium Maastricht, Netherlands on a ZUYD Excellence Scholarship, under the tutelage of solo artist and former Belgian National Orchestra Clarinet Solo – Roeland Hendrikx. Before that, she studied at National University of Singapore, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music on a full scholarship, graduating with Bachelor of Music (Honours-Distinction) degree and the NUSS medal for outstanding achievement. She was under the tutelage of Ma Yue — principal clarinetist of Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Kaiwen’s musical journey began early and she won the Bronze award in Singapore’s 1st National Clarinet Competition as the youngest participant at the age of 13. Later on, she auditioned into the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory’s Young Artist Programme at the age of 15 under a full scholarship. Since then, she has been actively performing in more than 15 cities covering Asia, Europe and North America.

She has performed regularly with various local symphonic orchestras including Orchestra of the Music Makers, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra and Singapore National Youth Orchestra. Other ensembles she has worked with include The Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Collective, Windstars and Singapore Sounds.

Her recent orchestral involvements include performing as the principal clarinet of the International Film Music Orchestra, a project by Conservatorium Maastricht, Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie with concerts in Poland, Netherlands and Germany. In summer 2017 she performed a total of 21 opera performances with the operas La Boheme, Cosi Fan Tutte, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Tosca in various locations in Sicily, Italy as part of the Mediterranean Opera Festival.

In 2015 she auditioned into the Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy in Canada, where she performed in the orchestra concerts and alongside faculty members in the chamber concert. She then toured with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra as the principal clarinettist to Macau and Hong Kong. Other notable performances include Singapore International Festival of the Arts 2014 with collaboration with London Sinfonietta, tour and performance with New York chamber orchestra “The Knights” in Germany 2012 sponsored by LANXESS and in the Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010.

Notable conductors she has worked with include Okko Kamu, Lan Shui, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Alexander Polishchuk, Eiji Oue and Douglas Bostock.

As a chamber musician, she won the second prize in the World Music Contest Kerkrade Biennale Chamber Competition 2016 in Netherlands with woodwind quintet. Earlier that year, she was involved in the Suntory Hall Chamber Project where she performed chamber concerts in both Singapore and in Japan’s famous Suntory Hall Chamber Music Garden festival. She has also performed chamber works in various museums in Singapore and Maastricht, Netherlands.

As a soloist, she played at the Esplanade concourse in Singapore as part of the Cool Classics series. Supportive of new works, she has given several premieres of solo and chamber works by young composers. She also performed in solo masterclasses by prominent artists such as Philippe Berrod, James Campbell, Alexander Fiterstein, Matthias Schorn and Kari Kriikku.

Kaiwen enjoys travelling and working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. She is now a freelance musician and educator based in Singapore.