Lydia Chinchilla is a freelancing, private flute instructor and educator in the Chicagoland area.She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music where she studied with Jennie Brown. Her studies have also included notable teachers such as Marie Tachouet (Principal, Lyric Opera Orchestra) and Susan Levitin.

In addition to her studies, Lydia has performed in various competitions and won numerous awards and music scholarships. In 2023, she performed as a finalist in the MasterWorks Festival Concerto Competition. In 2023, she was also awarded the Stella Russell Scholarship; a scholarship awarded to an exceptionally "talented and deserving student in music," as decided by Conservatory faculty. After an outstanding audition performance in the first round of the 2022 Crescendo International Competition, she was selected to perform at Carnegie Hall. In 2021, she won the Winds and Percussion category of the Wheaton College Conservatory Concerto Competition where she performed Carl Reinecke’s Ballade with the Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra.

As a teacher, Lydia believes in the importance that music education has in shaping and creating the whole person. Thus, she hopes to encourage and promote in her students a keenness to not give up but find the positive and fulfilling side of learning music.

To balance her teaching and performance, Lydia cycles competitively and has won numerous awards.  When not playing the flute or cycling, she enjoys trying new things, writing in her journal, baking (in particular yeast breads), cooking, and spending time with her family.