Christine Simpson

Christine (Chris) Simpson holds a Bachelor and Master’s in Horn Performance from California State University, Fresno, studying under Dr. Thomas Heibert and James Winter. CSU, Fresno provided wonderful chamber music opportunities where Chris played in the Woodwind Quintet, University Brass Quintet, and Brass Band. Playing with the Brass Quintet gave Chris the love of teaching students about music appreciation. The Quintet traveled all over Central California performing dozens of assemblies for Elementary Schools and they also traveled to Leeds, England, performing with local brass bands and got to work with well known composer, Phillip Wilby. As a Master’s student, Chris was a featured soloist with the Wind Ensemble in 1998. She also performed with the Fresno Philharmonic as assistant and 3rd horn. After moving to Austin, she attended the University of Texas and studied under Wayne Barrington and served as the Teaching Assistant for horn from 1999-2001.

Chris held a private studio of over seventy students in the Cedar Park and Leander area for over ten years and performed as the 3rd horn player in the Abilene Symphony from 2000-2003 and 2005-2007. She also subbed with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra and Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra. Since 2015 she has been a member of the Austin Civic Orchestra horn section and in 2018 was a featured soloist, performing the Gliere Horn Concerto. She currently holds the principal position for ACO and enjoys playing quartets with the rest of the French horn section. From 2007-2008 she played with the Cedar Park Winds and rejoined in 2018.

For the last 9 years, Chris has been the Performing Arts teacher at River Place Elementary, where she enjoys teaching young students the joy of music. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband of 27 years, playing with our sweet beagles, spending time with family, traveling to see our kids, and visiting National Parks.