Christine Erlander Beard
Described by Flute Focus as “…having shattered any notions that the piccolo might be lacking in deep, expressive powers," and in the British Flute Society journal Pan as performing with “confident aplomb…[and]…warm lyricism,” flutist Christine Erlander Beard enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. Quickly achieving international recognition as a performer and advocate for the piccolo, she has performed extensively across the U.S., Europe and South America, including twelve of the previous thirteen conventions of the National Flute Association and three British Flute Society International Conventions. Engagements in 2015-2016 include a guest residency at the Universidade Federale do Rio do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil (September 2015); and serving as a featured solo artist at the Guatemala Flute Festival (December 2015); at the Latin American Music Festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (April 2016); and at the 31st Festivales Internacional de Flautistas in Lima, Peru (May 2016).
As a chamber artist, Christine regularly performs as a member of Zephyrus with percussionist, Tomm Roland. Formed in 2010, this duo has toured across the Midwest and has been featured at the Festival Flautas del Mundo in Argentina, the NACWPI conference (FL), the Festival of New American Music (CA), and Omaha’s Under the Radar festival. In 2015, Christie partnered with Brazilian guitarist Daniel Wolff, with whom she has performed in recital in Nebraska, Iowa, Peru and Brazil. In April 2016 the Beard-Wolff Duo will tour Europe with performances in Belgium and The Netherlands, culminating with a recital at the 11th annual Adams Flute Festival.
Passionate about collaborating with composers, Beard is anxiously awaiting the completion of a new piccolo concerto being written for her by Australian composer Houston Dunleavy (which she will premiere in 2016), and she is also looking forward to sharing the stage with renowned low flutes specialist Peter Sheridan in a performance of Dunleavy’s double concerto, “Waiting for the Clouds to Part” scored for solo piccolo / flute and solo alto flute / bass flute with UNO’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Karen Fannin (March 2016). Christie has also commissioned a new piece for piccolo and piano by Nebraska composer Daniel Baldwin, and Zephyrus has also collaborated in a commissioning consortium to premiere a new piece for bass flute and percussion by Ivan Trevino during the 2015-2016 season
In 2007, Christie founded the International Piccolo Symposium, an intense 4-day workshop held every other year 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. In addition to her active performance schedule, Christine is the Piccolo Artist for Gemeinhardt Musical Instruments and in that role has presented piccolo clinics and lecture-recitals at state music conferences and flute festivals across the U.S., including the International Wind Music History Symposium and the American Musical Instrument Society International Conference at Yale. A contributing editor for the NFA's Flutist Quarterly and a current member of the NFA Piccolo Committee, her pedagogical articles and columns have been published in Flute Talk, the Flutist Quarterly, Flutewise, and The Instrumentalist, and her arrangement of Eugene Damare's "The Wren Polka" for solo piccolo and band has enjoyed performances across the U.S. and Europe.
Dr. Beard earned her MM and DMA in flute performance from The University of Texas at Austin. She joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2002 where she serves is the Regents / Foundation Professor of Flute and conducts the flute choir and UNO's contemporary music ensemble, Ensemble 768. In her spare time, Christie serves as the creator / webmaster for PiccoloHQ.com. Her first solo CD, To the Nth Degree: 21st century solo and chamber music for piccolo will be released in 2016
