戴曉蓮女士，原籍浙江省吳興市人，一九六三年六月出生於上海。九歲時，隨外叔公張子謙先生學習操縵，又得吳景略、吳文光父子的教益，一九八一年考入上海音樂學院民族音樂系，隨龔一先生等老師修習古琴，一九八五年畢業留校工作，任圖書館資料室及該院古琴專業教師。一九九一年，應歐洲中國音樂研究基金會之邀，赴荷蘭萊頓大學漢學院，研究荷蘭漢學家高羅佩（Robert Hans van Gulik）及其古琴譜之收藏。戴曉蓮又曾發表過多篇學術論文，她現為中國琴會理事，上海今虞琴社理事，歐洲中國音樂研究基金會海外會員。
DAI Xiao-lian was born in June 1963 in Shanghai. Her ancestral home was in Wuxing, Zhejiang Province. When she was nine, she studied the qin under her uncle ZHANG Zi-qian and also WU Jing-lue and WU Wen-guang. In 1981, she was admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory and studied under GONG Yi. After she was graduated from the Conservatory, she was employed by the Conservatory as a staff. She has published many articles of qin music during these days.