While on faculty development leave (sabbatical) during the spring 2026 semester, UNO’s Professor of Flute, Dr. Christine Beard was invited to teach guest flute and piccolo classes in Hungary and Latvia.

In May, Beard taught two flute and piccolo masterclasses for students in the Béla Bartók Faculty of Arts at the University of Szeged in Hungary. The invitation came from faculty member Szabolcs Szilágyi, who also serves as second flutist with Concerto Budapest (formerly the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra).

The following week, Beard traveled to Riga, Latvia, where she taught individual piccolo lessons for flute students at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. During her visit, she was also interviewed by Jānis Purnis, founder of the University of Latvia Wind Band, for the podcast Pūtēju orķestris un mēs (“Brass Band and Us”). In the interview, Beard discussed effective approaches to flute performance in wind bands and shared insights for conductors on the instrument’s unique characteristics.

A preview of the interview is available on Beard’s website at christiebeard.net, with the full episode to become available at a later date.