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The American soprano, pianist and accompanist, Christine Letcher, obtained her Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey; and her Master of Music degree in piano performance from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. While both of her degrees have a piano focus, she has always been a singer and was trained from an early age by James McKeever, and throughout her undergraduate studies with Anne Ackley Gray, both Westminster Choir College professors.
After graduating, Christine Letcher was on the faculty of Westminster Conservatory of Music and presented lecture recitals about women composers for seminars hosted by Westminster Choir College as well as service organizations in New Jersey. Prior to moving to Maine, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco (2000-2002), sparking her interest in women’s health and empowerment, and leading to her current position as a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coordinator for the Family Planning Association of Maine.
Christine is an active performer of a variety of styles of music from Classical to Caribbean. Since being in Maine, Christine has performed both as a solo pianist and accompanist in the Augusta area, and has sung with the Oratorio Chorale, First Parish Church in Brunswick, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Falmouth, Puma Jazz Quartet in Augusta, Androscoggin Chorale, Occasional Chorale, Choral Arts Society’s Camerata, Singers, and Masterworks Choirs. She has been a member of the St Mary Schola (Director: Bruce Fithian), an early music ensemble in southern Maine, since its inception in 2008, and the Reprise Choral Ensemble. She has also performed as an accompanist for students and faculty of University of Southern Maine (USM) and Bates College. Christine recently joined a Pan Coalition from Maine to compete in the first International Panorama, a steel drum competition in Trinidad. She is currently studying with Christina Astrachan, Artist Faculty in Voice at the University of Southern Maine and Bowdoin College.
Christine Letcher teaches private piano lessons and for the last three years has had great fun being the director of the Mad Anthony Panhandlers, a steel drum band in Wayne, Maine. She is currently the Assistant Director of Snow Pond Community Music School in Sidney, Maine, teaches private piano, voice, and is the director of the Snow Pond Pantasticks Steel Drum Band. She is also an adjunct professor of music at the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA). She teaches applied lessons in Piano and Voice, Music Theory courses, and 20th and 21st Century Music History. She is also the director of UMA’s newest steel drum ensemble. Christine is the choir director and organist at the UUCC Church in Winthrop. A practitioner of yoga philosophy, Christine shares with her students various techniques for mindful and joyous music-making. She loves working with adults and children alike, and enjoys collaborating with other musicians to create a place in which audiences can retreat from the craziness of life. She currently lives in Augusta, Maine. |
