University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE
A passionate performer noted for her “great expressive tone and range” and her “…capacity to reveal the deep soul of a composition,” Christine Erlander Beard enjoys an active international career as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. Described by the Canadian journal, Flute Focus as, “…having shattered any notions that the piccolo might be lacking in deep, expressive powers,” she is a regular guest artist on the international flute festival circuit, having performed extensively throughout North and South America and Europe. Having performed in 36 countries spanning 4 continents, since 2013 she has served as an artist teacher at the bi-annual Festival Internacional de Flautas de Costa Rica, and has appeared at eighteen National Flute Association conventions, three British Flute Society International Conventions, the International Piccolo Festival, and the Adams Flute Festival. In 2027, she will join the artist-faculty roster of the Zodiac Music Academy’s new pre-college division festival in Valdeblore, France.
Christie regularly performs in the flute section of both the Omaha and Sioux City Symphonies and is a charter member of the International SuperFlutes Collective. Her concerto performances include appearances with the Orquestra Filarmónica de Mendoza (Argentina), Orchestra Harmonia Mundi (Italy), San José Chamber Orchestra (California), and the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre (Brazil), with whom her performance of Ernesto Cordero’s Concerto Borikén for flute, piccolo, alto flute, and orchestra was awarded Second Prize in the Professional Soloist Division of The American Prize Competition in 2019. Christie’s commercial recording credits include Postcards: World Piccolo, Vol. 2 with French piccolo virtuoso Jean-Louis Beaumadier (SKARBO); two albums with Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band (MSR Classics); and Iberoamericano with Brazilian guitarist Daniel Wolff (Novodisc). She will also appear on the Flute New Music Consortium’s 2027 album, FNMC Presents: Vol. 2, performing Andrea Reinkemeyer’s Wrought Iron with XY Duo (Christine Beard, flute and Hannah Weaver, percussion).
A dedicated champion of contemporary music, Beard has commissioned and premiered dozens of works by composers from around the world. Her two-decade collaboration with British composer Matthew Smith is complemented by independent and consortium commissions from notable composers including Kevin Day, Reena Esmail, Amanda Harberg, Valerie Coleman, Samuel Zyman, Juri Seo, Herman Beeftink, David Loeb, Leanna Keith, Jim Stephenson, Gary Schocker, Adolphus Hailstork, and Linthicum-Blackhorse, to name a few. In 2016, she founded #theflutistactivist, an ongoing initiative that commissions socially conscious works and presents them through lecture-recitals designed to encourage audiences to engage with the issues explored through music. With her research and lecture-recitals focusing on protest music, censored composers, and music of the Holocaust, Christie has been named to the Humanities Nebraska and Humanities Iowa speakers rosters, bringing these programs to nonprofit and community audiences throughout the Midwest. Her advocacy for socially conscious programming and her lifelong dedication to championing the piccolo earned her the 2025 Flute Advocate Award from the Global Flute Excellence Awards.
Professor Beard is an accomplished educator whose pedagogical work has appeared in Flute Talk, The Flutist Quarterly, The Flute Examiner, Pan, Flutewise, and The Instrumentalist. She has served on the National Flute Association’s Piccolo and Scholarship Committees, as a contributing editor for The Flutist Quarterly, and currently serves as Chair of the NFA Collegiate Masterclass Competition. She is Professor of Flute and International Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she has been honored as the recipient of both UNO’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award as well as UNO’s Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity. When she isn’t practicing or teaching, Christie enjoys going on motorcycle rides with her husband, traveling, interior decorating and renovating their 1920’s American Four Square, spending time in nature, and cuddling with her four dogs (Mitsu, Loki, Percy, and KeiKo).
Visit www.christiebeard.net