Christina Jennings
Flutist Christina Jennings is praised for virtuoso technique, rich tone, and command of a wide range of literature featuring works from Bach to Zwilich. The Houston Press declared: “Jennings has got what it takes: a distinctive voice, charisma, and a pyrotechnic style that works magic on the ears.” Jennings enjoys a musical career made up of diverse performing and recording, collaborations with living composers, and work guiding young musicians. Jennings is the winner of numerous competitions including Concert Artists Guild, Houston Symphony’s Ima Hogg, and The National Flute Association Young Artists.
Active as a concerto soloist, Jennings has appeared with over fifty orchestras including the Utah and Houston Symphonies. In 2009 she premiered concertos written for her by Carter Pann and Laura Elise Schwendinger. The Washington Post described her performance of the Jonathan Leshnoff Concerto with the Fairfax Symphony as a “spirited, quicksilver performance.”
As broad-gauged in her musical pursuits as she is in her repertoire choices, Jennings is Principal Flute with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (Houston) where the Houston Culture Map described her as a “flutist (who) glistened with golden pixie dust”. She also performs as Principal Flute with the Arizona MusicFest! Orchestra and has performed frequently with Orchestra 2001 including recent performances at the Library of Congress and in Havana, Cuba. She has worked with such diverse artists such as Jethro Tull, David Parsons Dance Company, and members of Pilobolus. Chamber music partners have included So Percussion, the Brentano and Takács Quartets, soprano Lucy Shelton, pianists Lura Johnson and Simone Dinnerstein, guitarist Jonathan Leathwood, harpists Bridget Kibbey and June Han, and cellist Colin Carr.
Christina Jennings can be heard in works by Alec Wilder alongside jazz great Marian McPartland in a shared CD for Albany Records. Also on Albany Records is a disc featuring Ms. Jennings as soloist in Shulamit Ran’s flute concerto Voices with the Bowling Green Philharmonia. Of the Jennings-Johnson Duo CD, the American Record Guild declared: “Jennings is an extraordinary musician, with facile technique, a soaring tone, and a natural sense of phrasing that is often absent from flute playing.” In 2013 two discs were released featuring Ms. Jennings in the work of Laura Elise Schwendinger. Three Works (Albany) features the flute concerto Waking Dream for which Fanfare Magazine said “Exquisitely played by Christina Jennings (the work’s dedicatee), this is the highlight of the disc.” Ms. Schwendinger’s High Wire Act (Centaur Records) also features Ms. Jennings in High Wire Act andRumor. In the works is a disc of flute music by the American composer George Rochberg, which features Jennings transcriptions of the Caprice Variations.
In great demand as a teacher, Jennings is a Professor of Flute at the University of Colorado Boulder, and on the summer faculties of Greenwood Music Camp and ARIA. She has also taught at Texas and Sarasota Music Festivals. In 2008 she founded The Panoramic Flutist Seminarwith Leone Buyse in Boulder. Trained in the Dalcroze Eurhythmics method, Christina’s teaching incorporates embodied movement. In recent seasons she has presented masterclasses at The Juilliard School, Rice University, the Peabody Institute, the Longy School of Music, and the flute associations of Seattle, Utah, and Texas. She received her Bachelor and Master’s degrees at The Juilliard School, and her principal teachers include Carol Wincenc, Leone Buyse, George Pope, and Jeanne Baxtresser. Ms. Jennings lives in Boulder with her husband, violist Matthew Dane, and their twin sons.