Claudia Stein studied flute at the Dresden Music Academy with Eckart Haupt and piano with Heidrun Richter. At the age of 23 she was already appointed by Daniel Barenboim principal flute of the Berlin State Orchestra (Berliner Staatskapelle). She has appeared with numerous international orchestras and has plays regularly in the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.
Claudia Stein is a teacher and mentor in the academy of the Berlin State Orchestra and as of 2015 she teaches in the Barenboim Said Academy Berlin. Her pupils have gone on to win positions in prestigious orchestras in Marseille, Düsseldorf, Kassel and Berlin. Claudia is also active in the music kindergarten Berlin, a unique project initiated by Barenboim. She worked on some of the pedagogical ideas leading to its foundation.
A central element to Claudia's extensive solo repertoire is new music. Composers such as John Roysek, Sebastian Undisz, David Robert Coleman, Michael Kleemann and Gisbert Näther have written works especially for her.
Claudia Stein appears regularly as a soloist and chamber-music partner in major European festivals as well as in Israel, Japan and America.