Bio

Cristina Ballatori has performed across the United States, Europe, England, and Latin America as a recitalist, soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. Performance highlights include concerts at venues such as 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, as well as the Lyrique Quintet. Described by critics as “delightful performers” whose “music making was effortless and sparkling,” the Semplice Duo was formed in 2000 with the goal of exposing a wide variety of audiences to the less frequently performed chamber music for flute and piano. Winners of the Notes at 9,000 Emerging Artist Series Competition, the Semplice Duo has performed recitals and educational outreach concerts throughout the United States and abroad. Their debut album, Night Surrendering to Dawn, features an engaging and eclectic program of works for flute and piano by 21st-century composers Valerie Coleman, Amanda Harberg, and Samuel Zyman, including two world-premiere recordings of works by Christian Ellenwood. The album was released by Centaur Records in September 2025 and has received critical acclaim, winning two silver medals at the 2026 Global Music Awards in the Album and Duo categories. Passionate about the performance of new music and music by women, Ballatori has commissioned and premiered numerous works including those by Valerie Coleman, Cherise Liter, and Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda. Upcoming projects includes a new commissioned work by Reena Esmail and Kevin Day as a member of the Flute New Music Consortium.

A highly sought-after and dedicated educator, Ballatori joined the University of Arkansas faculty in Fall 2024 as Assistant Professor of Flute and flutist with the Lyrique Quintet. She previously served as Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), where she was one of fifteen tenure-track professors across the sixteen University of Texas System schools to receive the Regents’ Outstanding Award, a $25,000 honor recognizing exceptional teaching and innovation in the classroom.

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 the 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 build successful careers as performers, educators, arts administrators, and industry professionals. Under her leadership, the UTRGV Flute Choir and Flautarra Ensemble earned the university’s first invitations to perform as featured ensembles at the National Flute Association Convention, Texas Music Educators Association Convention, and Texas Flute Festival. In 2022, the UW–Whitewater Flute Ensemble received the school’s first invitation in over thirty years to perform at the National Flute Association Convention.

Ballatori regularly appears as a guest artist and has been a featured performer, clinician, and adjudicator at many festivals and conferences, including those of the National Flute Association, Music Teachers National Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Band Directors Association, and Florida Flute Association, among others. Recent highlights include guest artist engagements for the New Mexico Flute Association, Rochester Flute Association, and Wisconsin Flute Festival. A passionate advocate for music education, Dr. Ballatori has presented workshops for the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation's “Live! Music Now” program, and given master classes at universities and public schools throughout the United States and abroad.

A winner of the National Flute Association’s Graduate Research Competition, Ballatori’s doctoral thesis, Suite Paysanne Hongroise for Flute and Piano by Béla Bartók/Arr. Paul Arma: A Performer’s Guide, was recognized for its outstanding contribution to flute research. Her articles have been published in American Music Teacher, Flute Talk, and Flutist Quarterly. Ballatori is the founder and director of the Arkansas Flute Festival and has served co-director and co-founder of the South Texas Flute & Clarinet Festival. An active member of the National Flute Association, she served as Assistant Program Chair of the 2025 Convention in Atlanta. She has previously held roles on the NFA’s Board of Directors, Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Pedagogy Committee, Youth Engagement Committee, and as coordinator of the High School Soloist Competition.

Ballatori completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The recipient of a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship, she received a postgraduate diploma from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, where she studied with Peter Lloyd, the retired principal flutist of the London Symphony Orchestra. She earned performance degrees at Louisiana State University (M.M.) and George Mason University (B.M.). Her major teachers include Alexa Still, Katherine Kemler, Judith Lapple, and Diane Smith. She is a Burkart Artist.