Carolyn Christie

Although Carolyn Christie has retired from the flute section of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, she has maintained an active teaching schedule. Her master’s degree in Human Kinetics (2016) trained her to teach expert skills in mental performance excellence, work she has incorporated into her flute teaching. In the same way that many Olympic athletes work with mental performance consultants, musicians now work with Christie in order to learn techniques that can free 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. Carolyn is the first elite orchestral musician to train at the university level in this field in Canada.                                   

Many of Christie’s former students are members of major orchestras in the USA, Canada, and Europe. Retired from the faculties of Domain Forget and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Ms. Christie now teaches flute exclusively at McGill University. She will return to Philadelphia again this summer to give mental skills workshops at The Curtis Institute of Music during the Jeffrey Khaner Flute Summerfest. Christie has also taught mental skills workshops at the Universities of Toronto, McGill, Wilfrid Laurier, Memorial, Queens, Calgary, and British Columbia.

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 in celebration of her contribution to the OSM upon her retirement from the orchestra.