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The Magic Clarinet Quartet is named after the Opera “The Magic Flute” by W. A. Mozart. In the opera, Prince Tamino went through many difficulties, saved Princess Pamina with the magic flute and lived happily ever after. Now, in the Twenty-first Century, the Magic Clarinet Quartet wishes to have the power of the magic flute to help people banish the obstacles in life and bring beautiful music to this wonderful world.

The quartet was founded in 1993 by Ti Huang, Pei-yun Lin, Wen-hsin Chang, and Min-ho Yeh, who chose the renowned clarinetist Wei-leng Chen as their leader. In 1995, Min-ho Yeh went to the United States to seek an advanced degree and was replaced by Wei-Teh Sung, a French-trained clarinetist. All members of the quartet are active performers in Taiwan’s orchestras and teach clarinet lessons in Taiwan’s universities and high schools.

The Magic Clarinet Quartet has given approximately twenty performances in the National Concert Hall and Recital Hall and has played nearly one hundred concerts around Taiwan. It has been chosen by the National Chiang Kai Shek Cultural Center R.O.C. and the Council for Cultural Affairs to travel around Taiwan in order to enhance the island’s appreciation for refined musical arts. The quartet’s concert tours have extended to the most remote corners of the island with the hope of reviving Taiwan’s local music community by performing musical works composed by Taiwan’s local musicians. The quartet has received such wide acclaim that it was invited to perform in music festivals in China and France, making it one of Taiwan’s most widely presented chamber music ensembles.

In addition to playing the standard repertoire, the quartet continues to search for newly published compositions and also commissions works from composers around the world. In each concert, the Magic Clarinet Quartet centers their program around a theme, such as presenting musical styles from each era, presenting works showcasing music of different cultures, or arranging concertos for solo clarinet and clarinet ensemble. Aiming to promote clarinet music in Taiwan, the Magic Clarinet Quartet does its best to provide musical depth while keeping their performances accessible, hoping to make their music as educational as it is entertaining. The Magic Clarinet Quartet has also been attempting to popularize classical music. One of the group’s most famous accomplishments is its well-received adaptation of Mozart’s opera Magic Flute, which involves the participation of several famous singers and theater performers.

In recent years, the Magic Clarinet Quartet has invited prominent clarinetists from around the world to the International Clarinet Festivals in 2003 and 2005 held in conjunction with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra. While these foreign clarinetists are becoming role models for Taiwan’s students, the music festival is also building its reputation. The quartet has also organized two clarinet quartet competitions and sponsored the winners to perform recitals. It has led those young players to a brighter future as professional musicians.

Min-ho Yeh rejoined the Magic Clarinet Quartet in 2007 after he returned to teach in Taiwan. To broaden the horizon of Taiwan’s classical music lovers, the Magic Clarinet Quartet will release its first CD The Dancing Clarinets in 2007, consisting of many clarinet quartet works in a variety of different styles and characters written by modern composers. The Magic Clarinet Quartet has been introducing clarinet masterpieces to Taiwan’s grassroots audience, and will continue to do so in the future.

The Magic Clarinet Quartet is Buffet Crampon Asia performing ensemble. All quartet members perform on Buffet Crampon clarinets.


Ti Huang / Clarinet, Eb Clarinet

Ti Huang leads an active musical life as a clarinetist, chamber musician and orchestra player. She served in the Taipei Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan as Associate Principal Clarinet from 1990 to 2002. Concurrently, Ms. Huang was on the faculty of Fujen Catholic University in Taiwan as Associate Professor. She has given numerous recitals and chamber concerts in Taiwan, China, USA, and Europe and she has also played with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and many other orchestras as a soloist. During spring semester, 2003, she was named Visiting Lecturer at the Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, OH. Ti holds a Master of Music degree in clarinet performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she studied with Peter Hadcock. In 2004, she was invited to play as a soloist at the Contemporary Clarinet Festival at Michigan State University, and the ClarinetFest 2004 held by the International Clarinet Association. After moving to San Jose, California in 2003, Ti is still frequently invited to give solo, chamber, and orchestra performances in Taiwan, Europe and the United States.


Pei-yun Lin / Clarinet

Pei-yun Lin holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Soochow University and a Master’s degree in Clarinet Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she studied with Professor Wei-leng Chen and Michael Webster. From 1991-92, she was enrolled at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, where she has performed frequently as a recitalist and chamber player. In addition to a one-year position in the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Pei-yun has performed actively as a recitalist, chamber player and soloist with various orchestras after returning to Taiwan in 1992. She had also been on concert tour with the Taipei Sinfonietta and Philharmonic Orchestra to Europe and the United States. The book she authored, Q&A for Clarinet Learning, was published by the Mercury Publishing in 2006. Currently, Ms. Lin is Principal Clarinet of the Music Moment Orchestra, and also serves at the Soochow University and the National Taipei University of Education as Associate Professor.


Wen-hsin Chang / Clarinet, Basset Horn

Wen-hsin Chang holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Taipei National University of Arts. Her primary teachers include Wei-leng Chen, Yong Lai, Sho-ru Ho, and Shin-yi Shen. She joined the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and gave solo performances, as well as master classes at the Yang-ming Mt. Art Festival sponsored by the Chinese Culture University in 1991. She was invited by Formusica to record the Clarinet Concerto written by deceased composer Shu-chun Hsu with the National Chung-shan University Orchestra, which was released by Wach Music Studio. She was Principal Clarinet of the TNUA Orchestra and played the Piano Concerto No. 1 by P. Tchaikovsky with M. Argerich. Recently she founded the Metropolitan Woodwind Quintet, which has performed over a hundred recitals, and has hosted two international clarinet festivals in Taipei, Taiwan along with the Magic Clarinet Quartet, of which she is one of the founding members. Presently she plays in the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and also devotes her time performing and teaching the clarinet.


Ming-ho Yeh / Clarinet, Bass Clarinet

Min-ho Yeh is Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the National Kaohsiung Normal University in Taiwan and a member of the Magic Clarinet Quartet. He holds degrees from the National Taiwan Normal University (B.A.), the New England Conservatory (M.M.), and Indiana University (D.M.). Between 2002 and 2006, he taught at the University of Central Arkansas and was Principal Clarinet of the Conway Symphony Orchestra and a member of Sunaura Woodwind Trio. He has appeared at festivals such as the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (1997), the Festival of the Sound (2000), the ClarinetFest (2003, 2005, 2006), and the Taiwan Connection Music Festival (2003, 2004). In May 2002, he was invited to perform at concerts in Boston, San Diego, and Seattle during the Taiwanese-American Heritage Week. In 2003, he was invited to perform at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, NY. His performances have been praised in the New York Times and Boston Globe.