Gaby Pas-Van Riet (b. 1959, Essen, Belgium) is an internationally renowned flautist, soloist, and pedagogue whose career spans performance, teaching, and jury activity at the highest level. She began her musical training at an early age and studied at the Royal Flemish Academy of Music in Antwerp, where she obtained the solo diploma for flute and a first prize in chamber music while completing her secondary education. Parallel to these studies, she was admitted as a Young Student to the University of Music in Cologne at the age of fourteen, supported by a Belgian government scholarship, where she studied with Prof. Schwegler, principal flutist of the WDR.
After graduating in Antwerp, she continued her studies in Cologne and received the solo diploma with distinction in 1979. Further advanced studies followed in Basel with the eminent flautist Peter-Lukas Graf, supported by a Swiss government scholarship, which she completed with distinction in 1982. Her early career was marked by major competition successes, including prizes at international competitions in Markneukirchen, Aberdeen, and Munich, the Gold Medal at the George Cziffra Competition in Paris, and a prize at the ARD International Music Competition.
As an orchestral musician, Gaby Pas-Van Riet served as principal flute of the Orchestra of the European Community, working with conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, and Daniel Barenboim. She later held the position of principal flute of the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart and was invited to perform as guest principal with leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. She is a long-standing member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.
Alongside her performing career, she has developed an extensive pedagogical activity. She has held professorships at the universities of music in Antwerp and Saarbrücken and has taught at institutions in Belgium and Germany since the age of eighteen. Since 2018, she has been Professor of Flute at the Musica Mundi School, a specialized secondary school for highly gifted young musicians. She regularly gives international masterclasses, serves on juries of major competitions, and has participated in numerous recordings and televised concert productions.
