UNO Professor of Flute, Dr. Christine Beard, served as a guest artist at the XI Festival Internacional de Flautas de Costa Rica, held at the Instituto Nacional de la Música in the capitol city of San José from July 1-6, 2019. The Costa Rica flute festival – the largest in Central America – attracted approximately 150 student participants from several countries throughout Central America who had the opportunity to work with nearly 20 internationally renowned guest flutists from around the world. The 2019 faculty roster included flutists from Brazil, Argentina, the UK, Switzerland, Serbia, Slovenia, Canada and the USA, in collaboration with pianists Tim Carey (UK) and Lilian Buss-Pearson (USA).

Held every odd-numbered year, this was Beard’s fourth time returning to the week-long event for which she taught a flute/piccolo masterclass for the student participants, performed with the festival flute choir, and performed a solo recital featuring 21^st-century music for flute and piccolo by Andy Scott (UK) and American composers Herman Beeftink, Gary Schocker and Amanda Harberg.

During the festival, Beard also had daily rehearsals with The Superflutes International Collective, professional flutists the core of who have performed together at various festivals/conventions around the world since 2012. Superflutesperformed one musical work on the final day of the flute festival and the following day, the ensemble traveled to the country’s beloved coffee region in Dota where they toured a coffee farm and then performed a full concert of music arranged for flute ensemble by J.S. Bach, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev, concluding with a coffee-inspired encore by Gregory Lutz.

The next Costa Rica Flute Festival will take place in 2021, while Superfluteshas engagements booked in both Japan and Brazil later this year. For more photos as well as audio/video examples from the festival and of Superflutes, and to learn about Beard’s upcoming schedule for 2019-2020, visit Beard’s website at www.christiebeard.com.