UNO Professor of Flute, Dr. Christine Beard, spent the first week of April in Toronto, Canada for the Toronto Latin American Flute Festival (TLAFF), where she served as a featured guest artist for the second consecutive year. During TLAFF, Christine collaborated with musicians from Mexico, Canada, USA and Argentina in performances of contemporary Latin-American music for flute and piccolo, taught two piccolo masterclasses, taught flute/piccolo lessons, rehearsed with the TLAFF flute orchestra, and adjudicated three international solo and chamber music competitions. Directly following TLAFF, Beard traveled to Aveiro, Portugal where she was invited to appear as one of the headliner artists at the Research: Hands On Flute conference at the University of Aveiro from April 10-13, 2017. The inaugural conference boasted over 50 speakers and performers from North America, South America, Europe and Asia. During the conference, Beard taught two piccolo classes, a flute class, and performed a feature solo recital showcasing music for piccolo by mostly North American composers.