Carolyn Christie

Carolyn Christie retired from the flute section of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra after a 36 year tenure, yet she has maintained an active teaching schedule. Many of Christie’s former students are members of orchestras in the USA, Canada, and Europe. She now teaches exclusively at the University of Ottawa.

During her tenure with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Christie recorded close to 100 CDs and toured North America, South America, Asia, and Europe many times, including many performances in Carnegie Hall. Christie appeared as a soloist with the MSO on several occasions and was honoured to have the orchestral work Passacaglia by Neal Gripp dedicated to her upon her retirement from the orchestra, in celebration of her contribution to the OSM.

Ms. Christie’s master’s degree in Human Kinetics (uOttawa, 2016) has lead her to obtain expert skills in mental performance excellence coaching, work she has incorporated into her teaching. In the same way many Olympic athletes work with mental performance coaches, musicians now work with Christie in order to learn techniques that can help them to perform as well on stage as they do in their practice rooms. She has developed a series of workshops, master classes, and personal counselling sessions geared toward musicians of all ages and abilities, including her expert peers. She has taught workshops at most universities across Canada and at The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Carolyn is the first elite orchestral musician to train at the masters level in this field in Canada.