BIOGRAPHY
"Flautist Yu-Wei Hu was sublime and her handling of Gluck and Paganini,
accompanied sensitively by guitarist Johan Löfving, was my personal highlight..."
- Tom Rhodes, Early Music Today
Flauguissimo Duo was founded by flautist Yu-Wei Hu and guitarist Johan Löfving in 2008. They have performed at many prestigious venues including Kings Place, Cadogan Hall and St John's Smith Square in London, Sage Gateshead in Newcastle and St George’s Bristol. Recently Flauguissimo was invited to perform in the Stratford-on-Avon Festival, King's Lynn Festival and London Guitar Festival; abroad their performance highlights include Utrecht Early Music Festival Fringe in the Netherlands, Swedish Guitar and Lute Festival and the Bach Hall in Taiwan. Passionate about contemporary music, Flauguissimo Duo performed and led composer’s workshop at Bristol University. Selected for Brighton Early Music Festival Live and International Guitar Foundation Young Artist Platform 2015, Concordia Young Artists and Live Music Now, Flauguissimo Duo’s performances have been highly appreciated by both audience and music critics. Besides Flauguissimo Duo, Yu-Wei and Johan have won many prizes in prominent competitions, including International Early Music Competition in Middelburg/The Netherlands 2011, Uppsala International Guitar Competition 2011 and London International Guitar Competition 2012. They have performed at MuTh-Konzertsaal der Wiener Sängerknaben, Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Radio France Festival Montpellier, Palace of Versailles, BBC Proms Cadogan Hall, Bachwoche Festival Vienna, Carinthischer Sommer Festival Austria, Opera Barga Festival Italy, London Handel Festival and London Festival of Baroque Music. Their performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 & Radio 4, Radio France, Austrian Radio Ö1 and Swedish Radio P2.
Yu-Wei and Johan specializes in a historically-informed, lively and exciting interpretation of music. Their aim is to present a variety of music from the 18th and 19th centuries, as the intimate setting of flute and guitar/theorbo flourished in the salon culture throughout Europe at the time. They frequently collaborate with some of the finest artists under the name Flauguissimo Ensemble, often contrasting delicate intimacy with theatrical spectacle.
Yu-Wei Hu, baroque & classical flute
As both a recitalist and orchestral musician, Yu-Wei has performed on baroque and classical flutes throughout the UK and Europe, including concerts at MuTH - Konzertsaal der Wiener Sängerknaben, Palace of Versailles, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St. John’s Smith Square and Cadogan Hall. She also performed at the BBC Proms, London Handel Festival and London Festival of Baroque Music, Radio France Festival Montpellier, Bachwoche Festival Vienna, Carinthischer Sommer Festival Austria and Opera Barga Festival Italy. Her performance has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio France and Austrian Radio Ö1.
Yu-Wei has performed with many renowned period chamber ensembles and orchestras, including Florilegium, London Handel Orchestra, St James's Baroque and The Hanover Band. Her baroque group Ensemble de Trianon won the Richard III Prize in RCM early music competition 2010 and was finalist in Fenton House Competition 2012. Les Nation Réunis, the other baroque ensemble she co-founded in 2010, was the winner of the International Early Music Competition in Middelburg/The Netherlands 2011.
Yu-Wei was awarded a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the National Taiwan Normal University in 2004 and 2006. In the UK, Yu-Wei completed the Master of Performance programme with distinction at the RCM in 2010, after studying baroque flute with Lisa Beznosiuk and Rachel Brown, and modern flute with Susan Thomas and Daniel Pailthorpe. During this time, she was supported by the Kit and John Gander Award 2008-9, and the Taiwan Government Scholarship for Studying Abroad 2008-10. Yu-Wei was selected to be part of the OAE Experience Scheme for Young Players in 2011 and Jeune Orchestre Atlantique in France 2011-12. Generously supported by a Parnassus Award, Yu-Wei continued her study at the RCM and was awarded an Artist Diploma degree in 2013.
Johan Löfving, theorbo & romantic guitar
Since being a prize winner in the prestigious London International Guitar Competition 2012 Johan's solo recitals have taken him to some of the finest halls in Britain such as Kings Place and The Sage Gateshead, followed by celebrated chamber music recitals at major festivals such as Spitalfields, King's Lynn, Stratford-on-Avon and Brighton Early Music Festival. Abroad he has also had the honour to perform at the MuTH-Konzertsaal der Wiener Sängerknaben in Vienna and as well as at the legendary Carinthischer Sommer Festival.
In 2011 Johan was awarded the First Prize in the Young Talent Concert at the Uppsala Guitar Festival in Sweden and the performance was recorded and broadcast later by the Swedish Radio P2. The following year he was awarded the Jörgen Rörby Prize and the audience prize from the Swedish Guitar and Lute Society.
Apart from his long-term work with Flauguissimo Duo, he has worked with some of the finest musicians, such as baritone Thomas Guthrie, tenor Rob Murray as well as pianist David Owen Norris, who invited him to take part in the 'Playlist Series' on BBC Radio 4. His passion for new music has resulted in several world premieres of both solo and chamber works, notably by the highly acclaimed British composer and guitarist Sam Cave.
Johan graduated with First Class Honours from the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied guitar with Gary Ryan, theorbo with Jakob Lindberg and conducting with Natalia Luis-Bassa. At RCM he was awarded both the Guitar Prize and the Hilda Anderson Dean Prize. Johan currently continues his studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Professor Robert Wolff and holds a scholarship from the Swedish Royal Academy of Music.
Johan plays on a modern guitar made by the Norwegian Luthier Yngvar Thomassen, a theorbo by the German Luthier Wolfgang Emmerich and a French Tribout guitar from 1850.
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Photographer: Aiga Ozo
