LIN HSIAO-FENG 林小楓
Improvising Flutist · Curator · Bamboo Flute Maker
Lin Hsiao-Feng is a Taiwanese improvising flutist, curator, and bamboo flute maker whose work explores the intersections of flute traditions, free improvisation, and contemporary sound. His practice spans Chinese dizi and xiao, the Paiwan nose flute, and flute traditions from different cultures, often extending into collaborations with dance, poetry, visual art, electronic sound, and other forms of performance.
For more than a decade, Lin has developed an artistic practice that brings traditional instruments into open-ended contemporary contexts. Rather than treating tradition as a fixed repertoire, he approaches breath, timbre, inherited techniques, and cultural memory as materials for real-time composition and musical encounter. His performances move between traditional vocabularies and open-form interaction, allowing different musical languages to meet without predetermined structures.
His solo and interdisciplinary projects include Forgetting JiangHu – Lin Hsiao-Feng’s Flute Concert (2017) and The Realm of Sound and Shadow – Experimental Flute Music Expansion Project (2021), which further developed his exploration of flute performance beyond conventional concert formats. His work has also been presented at major cultural and multidisciplinary events in Taiwan, including programs at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, National Taiwan University, and Taipei Nuit Blanche.
In 2022, Lin initiated Flute Music Frontiers, a series of performances, workshops, and cultural exchanges across Turkey, Malaysia, and Singapore. He was invited to share his work with students at institutions including Bahçeşehir University Music Academy and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. His subsequent international appearances included the Jeonju International Sori Festival in Korea and Hunan Satellite TV’s Ride the Wind 2023, where he performed the nose flute in Thousand of Miles (千里萬里).
In 2024, Lin was named World Flutist of the Year and received the Best Asian Recording Award from the World Flute Society for his album Cadenza21. The album also received multiple nominations at Taiwan’s 35th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music, while its packaging design was nominated for Best Recording Package at the 66th Grammy Awards. That same year, Lin was invited to perform as part of the Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad.
In 2025, Lin was invited to Indiana University Bloomington for performances, lectures, and artistic exchange. In 2026, he toured the United States with performances and talks in Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin, appearing at the World Flute Society Annual Convention as a Featured Guest Artist. There, he presented the Paiwan nose flute tradition and performed with Cadenza Duo as Featured Evening Performers.
Lin is the Music Director of Lin’s Culture in Taipei, where he curates concerts, workshops, and international exchanges centered on improvisation, experimental music, and contemporary performance. Since 2011, he has also organized a long-running series of improvisation gatherings that bring together musicians and artists from different disciplines and cultural backgrounds.
Alongside performance and curatorial work, Lin designs and makes bamboo flutes, including his Wu-Wei Chinese Bamboo Flute Series. Instrument making forms another dimension of his artistic practice, connecting craftsmanship, material, breath, and sound.
Across these activities, Lin continues to investigate how flute traditions can remain connected to their cultural histories while entering new relationships through improvisation, collaboration, and contemporary artistic practice.
Selected Highlights
2026
World Flute Society Annual Convention, Featured Guest Artist
U.S. Tour, Washington, D.C. & Wisconsin
2025
Indiana University Bloomington, Performances, Lectures & Artistic Exchange
2024
World Flutist of the Year, World Flute Society
Best Asian Recording Award, World Flute Society
Cadenza21 packaging nominated for Best Recording Package, 66th Grammy Awards
35th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music, multiple nominations
Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad
2022
Flute Music Frontiers, Turkey · Malaysia · Singapore
2018–present
Music Director, Lin’s Culture, Taipei
2011–present
Organizer, Improvisation Gathering / 即興小聚
PRESS & MEDIA｜媒體報導
Selected press coverage, interviews, and features from Taiwan and international media.
01 PAR 表演藝術｜2026/08/15
〈島嶼笛聲的當代轉譯 林小楓美國巡演首登世界笛樂年會〉
02 Good Hours｜2026/09/28
〈Lin Hsiao-Feng on Tradition, Improvisation and What Travels With a Sound〉Read Interview →
03 All About Jazz｜2026/09/01
〈Lin Hsiao-Feng Brings Taiwanese Flute Traditions and
Free Improvisation to U.S. Stages〉
04 JazzWorldQuest｜2026/08/25
〈Taiwanese Flutist Lin Hsiao-Feng Brings
Paiwan Nose Flute and Free Improvisation to U.S. Stages〉
05 中央社好生活 CNA｜2026/08/17
〈笛樂家林小楓赴美巡演 傳統鼻笛與當代即興驚艷世界笛樂年會〉
06 工商時報 Commercial Times｜2026/09/11
〈林小楓完成2026美國巡演 登世界笛樂協會年會拓展國際交流〉
07 風傳媒 Storm Media｜2026/09/12
〈台灣第一人！林小楓攜排灣族鼻笛登世界笛樂協會年會〉
08 華音／笛子藝術網｜2026/08/28
〈著名笛乐演奏家林小枫应邀到美国巡演 并亮相世界笛乐协会年度年会〉
音樂影片
大笛隨筆
簡介
音樂之魂
CADENZA DUO
Emerging from Ensemble CADENZA, CADENZA DUO pairs Taiwan-based bamboo flutist Hsiao-Feng Lin with producer-composer Hsuan Chang Kitano (historical keyboards/computer music). Drawing on Lin’s family tradition of instrument craft, the duo fuses field recordings from Taiwan’s shores and mountains with live performance on bamboo and nose flutes. They actively promote new music through commissions, collaborations, and premieres, and their work bridges historically informed practice and modern sound design, inviting audiences into an immersive, cross-cultural sound world.