Flutist, Educator, and Collaborator
Who is Cristina Ballatori?
Flutist Cristina Ballatori has established an international performing career as a recitalist, soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer, with appearances throughout the United States, Europe, England, and Latin America. A finalist in the Instrumental Performance Division of the 2026 American Prize, she has presented concerts and master classes at the Encuentro EntreFlautas and the Encuentro de Corno y Flauta in Chile, the Festivales Internacionales de Flautistas in Lima, Peru, the World Flutes Festival in Mendoza, Argentina, the Atelier Concert Series in Paris, France, and artist residencies in Spain, Costa Rica, and Mexico. An active chamber musician, Ballatori is a member of the Semplice Duo with pianist Kevin Chance and the Lyrique Quintet. Hailed by critics as "delightful performers" whose "music making was effortless and sparkling," the Semplice Duo has presented recitals and educational outreach programs throughout the United States and abroad since its founding in 2000. Winners of the Notes at 9,000 Emerging Artist Series Competition, the duo was formed to introduce audiences to the less frequently performed repertoire for flute and piano. Released on Centaur Records in September 2025, the duo's debut album, Night Surrendering to Dawn, features an eclectic collection of works by Valerie Coleman, Amanda Harberg, Samuel Zyman, and Christian Ellenwood, including two world-premiere recordings. The album received two Silver Medals in the 2026 Global Music Awards in the Album and Duo categories. Ballatori regularly appears as a guest artist and has been a featured performer, clinician, and adjudicator at many festivals, universities, and conferences including those of the National Flute Association, Music Teachers National Association, Texas Music Educators Association, and Mid-South Flute Society among others. She is a Burkart Artist.
A dedicated and passionate teacher, Ballatori joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas in Fall 2024 as Assistant Professor of Flute and flutist with the Lyrique Quintet. Previously, she served as Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater (UW-W) and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), where she was one of only fifteen tenure-track faculty members across the University of Texas System to receive the Regents' Outstanding Award, a $25,000 honor recognizing exceptional teaching, innovation, and student success. Her students have earned top honors in local, state, regional, and national competitions, including awards from the National Flute Association, Music Teachers National Association, and Texas Association of Music Schools, and have been accepted into prestigious summer festivals and graduate programs. Dr. Ballatori’s former students have gone on to successful careers as performers, educators, arts administrators, and industry professionals. Under her leadership, the UTRGV Flute Choir and Flautarra Ensemble became the first ensembles from the university to perform at the National Flute Association Convention, the Texas Music Educators Association Convention, and the Texas Flute Festival. In 2022, the UW-W Flute Ensemble received the university's first invitation in more than thirty years to perform at the National Flute Association Convention. Dr. Ballatori loves working with enthusiastic and dedicated students of all ages, and maintains a small private studio in addition to her duties at the university.
Interviews
The Flute Examiner
Performing, working with students, mentoring students, and seeing them go out into the world after graduation and positively impacting their own communities—each of these gives me great joy. However, many of things that fill my heart now have little to do with music.
Flute Talk
Although I could not see my path moving forward at the time, that period proved to be a positive turning point in my life and career. The person I was before that experience was very different from the person I grew into during the years following it.