Described by the Canadian journal, Flute Focus as, “...having shattered any notions that the piccolo might be lacking in deep, expressive powers," flutist Christine Erlander Beard enjoys an active international career as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. A passionate performer noted for her "great expressive tone and range" (Christopher Caliendo, composer) and her “...capacity to reveal the deep soul of a composition” (Martin Rokeach, composer), she has performed extensively across North America, South America and Europe, including 15 conventions of the National Flute Association and 3 British Flute Society International Conventions, and regularly serves as a guest artist on the international flute festival circuit, most recent of which includes the International Piccolo Festival (Italy), the Zodiac Festival (France), and the Puerto Rico Flute Festival. Upcoming engagements in 2023 include serving as a guest artist for flute festivals in Switzerland, Spain, Peru, and Costa Rica; as well as performances in AR, CO, KS, IL, ND, TX, WY, and at the MidAtlantic Flute Convention in Washington, D.C.

 

Highlights of recent seasons include solo performances with the Orquestra Filarmonica de Mendoza (Argentina), the Orquestra Sinfonica de Porto Alegre (Brazil), the Orchestra Harmonia Mundi (Italy), and the Nebraska Wind Symphony. Recently awarded Second Prize in the prestigious American Prize Competition's Professional Soloist division, Christine can be heard alongside the French piccolo legend Jean-Louis Beaumadier on his CD, Postcards: World Piccolo, Vol. 2; with Brazilian guitarist Daniel Wolff on his newest CD, Iberoamericano; and with Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band on two CDs: Victorian Era Music for Brass Band by Thomas Coates, and Wind Band Music of the Gilded Age, the latter of which features Beard performing August Damm's "Through the Air" for solo piccolo and brass band. As a core member of the International SuperFlutes Collective, she has concertized in Japan, Brazil, Costa Rica, the UK, and at numerous NFA conventions in the USA.

 

Passionate about collaborating with composers, Christine has commissioned and/or premiered dozens of new works from composers across the globe. Well known for her decade-long collaborations with British composer Matthew Smith, her most recent commissioning projects include joining consortiums for new music for flute by Amanda Harberg, Valerie Coleman, Samuel Zyman, and Reena Ismail; and new piccolo compositions by Leanna Keith, Amanda Harberg, Jim Stephenson, and Daniel Wolff. Christie’s newest endeavor is to encourage music with social justice themes that inspire dialogue and social activism: #theflutistactivist initiative brought forth two new pieces in 2020-21 the first for flute and mixed media by Leanna Keith based on gun violence in the USA; and a work piccolo and piano inspired by the global warming crisis by Herman Beeftink. In 2024 Christie will premiere the 3rd piece in the series, "C10H15N" for piccolo and piano by Linthicum-Blackhorse, a theatric work paraphrasing the drug epidemic in America.

 

In 2007, Beard founded the International Piccolo Symposium, an intense 4-day workshop held at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The goal of IPS is to bring piccolo players and enthusiasts together from all over the world to learn about and discuss solo, chamber and orchestral music featuring the piccolo, and pedagogical issues specific to the piccolo, led by some of the world's leading piccolo players. Christie has served the National Flute Association as a member of both its Piccolo Committee and Scholarship Committee, as a regular adjudicator for the NFA Piccolo Artist competition, and as a contributing editor for the NFA's journal, The Flutist Quarterly. She has appeared on an episode of the Flute 360o podcast; contributed to "Practice With the Experts: Piccolo Edition" compiled by Erica Peel; is featured in Theodore Presser's book, "It's Performance Day!" authored by Cathy Herrera; and her pedagogical articles and columns have been published in Pan (British Flute Society's journal), The Flutist Quarterly, Flutewise, The Flute Examiner, Flute Talk, and The Instrumentalist.

 

Christine earned her MM and DMA in flute performance from The University of Texas at Austin where she was a student of Karl "Fritz" Kraber. She teaches flute/piccolo, chamber music, and contemporary music literature at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she was named UNO’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor and was also selected as UNO's recipient for its campus-wide Award for Distinguished Research of Creative Activity. A regular substitute player with the Omaha and Sioux City Symphonies, she is a Sankyo Flutes artist and a piccolo artist for Hernandez Flutes. In addition to performing, Beard's research interests include music by exiled/banned/censored/persecuted composers, as well as the role of music during the Holocaust and music composed for flute by victims of the Holocaust. Christie plays on a 5K-DT Sankyo flute, and on a Burkhart Elite Deluxe multi-trill piccolo with gold tenons paired with a quebracho wood headjoint made by Julio Hernandez. www.christiebeard.net