Christine Erlander Beard

Biography

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 fifteen conventions of the National Flute Association and three British Flute Society International Conventions. A regular guest artist in the flute festival circuit, she has performed and taught at the International Piccolo Festival (Italy), the Zodiac Festival (France), the Adams Flute Festival (The Netherlands), and at international flute festivals in Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Portugal, among others. Upcoming engagements include festival appearances in Brazil, Chicago, Dallas, New York City, Puerto Rico, Sacramento, and Spain.

​As a concerto soloist, highlights of recent seasons include performances with the Orquestra Filarmonica de Mendoza (Argentina), the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre (Brazil), the Orchestra Harmonia Mundi (Italy), the San Jose Chamber Orchestra (CA), the Little Rock Wind Symphony (AR), and the Nebraska Wind Symphony. Recently awarded Second Prize in the prestigious American Prize Competition's Professional Soloist division (2018-2019), Christine can be heard alongside the French piccolo legend Jean-Louis Beaumadier on his CD, Postcards: World Piccolo, Vol. 2 (SKARBO label); with Brazilian guitarist Daniel Wolff on his newest CD, Iberoamericano (Novodisc label 2018); and with Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band on two recordings: their inaugural CD, Victorian Era Music for Brass Band by Thomas Coates (MSR Classics label), and their 2nd CD, Wind Band Music of the Gilded Age, which features Beard performing August Damm's "Through the Air" for solo piccolo and brass band (also on the MSR Classics label).

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, Samuel Zyman and Valerie Coleman; and new piccolo compositions by Amanda Harberg, Jim Stephenson, and Daniel Wolff. Her newest endeavor is to encourage music with social justice themes that inspire dialogue and social activism: #theflutistactivist initiative will bring forth three new pieces in 2019-2020: the first for flute and mixed media by Leanna Keith based on gun violence in the USA; and two works for piccolo and piano inspired by the USA’s southern border crisis by prominent composers who themselves immigrated to the United States: Herman Beeftink (The Netherlands) and Samuel Zyman (Mexico). 

​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. A member of the NFA’s Piccolo Committee and Scholarship Committee, and a contributing editor for the NFA's The Flutist Quarterly, her pedagogical articles and columns have been published in Flute Talk, The Flutist Quarterly, Flutewise, and The Instrumentalist.

​Beard earned her MM and DMA in flute performance from The University of Texas at Austin in 2003 where she was a student of Karl F. Kraber. She joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2002 where she was named UNO’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor in 2011 and was selected as UNO's recipient for its campus-wide Award for Distinguished Research or Creative Activity (ADROCA) in 2019. A regular substitute player with the Omaha and Sioux City Symphonies, she was added to the Sankyo Flutes international artist roster in 2016, and also became a piccolo artist for Hernandez Flutes in 2017. Christine plays on a 5K-DT Sankyo flute with an 18K Sankyo headjoint, and on a Burkart Elite Deluxe multi-trill piccolo paired with a headjoint made by Julio Hernandez.

Learn more at christiebeard.com

Research and Creative Activity Interests

Flute/piccolo performance and pedagogy, contemporary music, chamber music, music of the Americas, music by living composers and underrepresented composers, music and social justice, music marketing and entrepreneurship

Education

B.M. (flute performance), Arkansas State University

M.M. (flute performance), The University of Texas at Austin

D.M.A. (flute performance), The University of Texas at Austin

Scheduled Teaching