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Biography

Christina Castellanos
     Flutist & Teacher

Christina Castellanos, MM, is the adjunct professor of flute at Snow College, Horne School of Music. She is Principal Flutist of The Las Vegas Philharmonic, Principal Flutist of The Salt Lake Symphony, Principal Flutist of The Nevada POPS, Solo Flutist of Sinfonia Salt Lake, and Solo Flutist of Asia/America New Music Institute. She also regularly plays flute and piccolo in The Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, The Ballet West Orchestra, Boise Philharmonic, The Orchestra at Temple Square for the Tabernacle Choir, and The TAD Wind Symphony in Japan. She had the privilege of playing Principal Flute under the direction of Itzhak Perlman and has played for many artists such as STING, Harry Connick Jr., Frank Sinatra Jr., Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Seth MacFarlane, Ben Folds, Kristen Chenoweth, The Beach Boys, Indigo Girls, Jerry Lewis, Cirque du Soleil, The King’s Singers, Michel Legrand (PBS Broadcast), Luis Fonsi (2009 Latin Grammys), flutist/composer Ian Clarke, Pink Martini, Rita Moreno, Andy Williams, Dionne Warwick, Vanessa Williams, Peter Shickele, Arturo Sandoval, Deborah Voigt, Andrea Bocelli (west coast tour), Il Divo, GENTRI, and KANSAS.

As a concerto soloist, she has appeared with Sinfonia Salt Lake, The Salt Lake Symphony, Sirocco Flutes of Las Vegas, The College of Southern Nevada Symphony Orchestra, three concerti with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra, two concerti with The Viewmont High Orchestra, and as The Winning Soloist of the James K. Huntzinger Concerto Competition, performing the Ibert Concerto.

Christina has played flute and piccolo in many musical productions, including Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular show at The Venetian (2006-2012), The Sound of Music, God Lives in Glass, The Wizard of Oz, and flute/piccolo/alto flute/recorder/penny whistle in Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz. As a guest artist, Christina performed a newly commissioned work (arranged for alto flute and flute for her) Phoenix Rising by Stacy Garrop at The National Flute Association 2021 Convention. Christina’s solo performance of Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor in 2016 received a review by Catherine Reese Newton in The Salt Lake Tribune… “in a particularly memorable appearance, her graceful style meshed comfortably with the Sinfonia strings. She turned in some especially stylish playing in the suite’s final, and best-known, movement, which Baldwin took at a lively tempo that delighted the crowd.” Her performance of Claude Debussy’s L'après midi d'un faune (Afternoon of a Faun) in 2012 received a review by Claire Voyant, gossip columnist for Las Vegas Online… “The Debussy featured Tina Castellanos (who drove in from Salt Lake for the concert) beautifully playing the solo flute, and filling the East Tropicana Community Lutheran Church sanctuary with her tender and lilting sound.”

Recent recordings include Rob Gardner’s The Lamb of God Concert Film (in theatres 2021), Mahler Symphony No. 8 with The Utah Symphony and The Tabernacle Choir, a KUED special Utah: The National Parks, soundtrack by The Utah Symphony, Teach Me To Walk In The Light and Other Children’s Favorites with The Orchestra at Temple Square and The Tabernacle Choir, Solo Flutist for Dan Carter’s Come Unto Him, and Flute and Piccolo on video game music by Chance Thomas: Dungeons and Dragons, Might and Magic, and Lord of the Rings: Riders of Rohan. She can also be heard as flutist on GENTRI’s RISE album, Solo Flutist for The Frankie Moreno Band: The Unknown Artist, on the Bermuda Record Label alongside artists such as Joshua Bell, and as Principal Flutist of UNLV’s Wind Symphony for Dale Wilson’s No Mo Chalumeau! Live at the 67th ABA Convention, Daron Hagen’s Shining Brow and Bandanna, and Steve Bryant’s Monkey.

Since the age of 16, Christina has maintained a full-time private flute studio, of which her students have won many local and national competitions. She was the Assistant Flute Instructor at UNLV 2002-07, and on the faculty of The Nevada School of the Arts. Service to the flute community has been important to Christina as she has been President of The Las Vegas Flute Club and President of The Utah Flute Association. She was also the founding member of The Kappa Theta chapter and The Las Vegas Alumnae chapter of the service fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota. Some of the awards she received from Sigma Alpha Iota are The Sword of Honor, Province College Leadership Award (Ruby Sword of Honor), the Scholastic Award, National College Leadership Award, chapter nominee for the National Alumnae Leadership Award, and Honorable Mention for the National Graduate Performance Award. She currently serves on the orchestra committee for The Las Vegas Philharmonic.

As a clinician, Christina has been a guest artist at Utah State University, Snow College, The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Salem Youth Symphony, The Utah Flute Association, The Blackbird Music Project in California, and has published hundreds of instructional videos online for Musician’s Toolkit and Connect Through Music. She received her Bachelor’s (Magna Cum Laude) and Master’s (Summa Cum Laude) degrees in flute performance from UNLV. Her primary teachers were Nancy Toone (Utah) and Dr. Richard Soule (UNLV). Christina lived in Las Vegas for 10 years and now resides in Bountiful, Utah with her husband, Chris Castellanos (French Horn Soloist with The Boston Brass), their daughter Lily, and son Orion.

 

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