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Dr. Christine E. Beard

Associate Professor of Flute / Coordinator of Woodwind Studies
Strauss PAC 224
phone: (402) 554-2685
e-mail: cbeard@unomaha.edu
UNO Flute Studio Website: http://music.unomaha.edu/flutestudio/index.htm
Piccolo Website: http://www.piccoloHQ.com

Described by critics as "masterful" and "evocative," flutist Christine Erlander Beard is constantly in demand as a soloist, chamber artist, and clinician. Quickly achieving international recognition as a performer and advocate for the piccolo, she has performed extensively across the U.S. and Europe, including Ireland, England, France, Norway, Lithuania, Latvia and Russia. She has appeared on the programs of six of the previous eight conventions of the National Flute Association (2002, 2005-09), and has served as a guest artist at numerous flute festivals including Emporia State University, the Iowa Flute Festival, St. Louis Flute Society Flute Festival, the Flute Society MidSouth, and the Flute Society of Philadelphia; and in 2008, Christine was invited by Trevor Wye to coordinate and conduct piccolo clinics at the British Flute Society International Convention in Manchester, England. Engagements in 2010 include soloing with Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band at the International Vintage Band Music Festival, and performing a solo recital at the International Flute Festival in Manosque, France, where she will also record a piccolo trio with Jean-Louis Beaumadier for his new CD. In 2011, she has been invited to perform at the European Piccolo Symposium in Jezersko, Slovenia.

In addition to her active performance schedule, Christine is the Piccolo Artist for Gemeinhardt Flutes 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. 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.

In 2007, Christie founded the bi-annual International Piccolo Symposium, an intense 4 day workshop held every odd-numbered 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 (see http://www.youtube.com/ipsorg or www.piccolosymposium.com).

Dr. Beard earned her MM and DMA in flute performance from The University of Texas at Austin (1998, 2003). She joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2002 where she teaches applied flute, chamber music, and serves as Coordinator of Woodwind Studies. In 2003, she founded the Heartland Community Flute Choir (www.heartlandflutes.org) which has since been selected to perform at two NMEA conferences, the 2008 NFA Convention, and the 2009 Midwest International Band & Orchestra Clinic. In 2010, she will begin serving the College Music Society as the national Board Member for Performance, and as the President of the Great Plains Chapter of CMS. In her spare time, she serves as the creator/webmaster for PiccoloHQ.com.

Dr. Beard plays on a Roy Seaman Ltd. piccolo and a 5K Sankyo flute.

Visit Dr. Beard on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/christiebeard

Visit the UNO Flute Studio Website

Visit PiccoloHQ - Dr. Beard's ultimate piccolo information site!