Christiana C. Fortune-Reader

Biography

Christiana Fortune-Reader is a multi-faceted musician, passionate about the intersection of teaching, performing, community building, and arts advocacy. She performs regularly in the Tri-State area, in addition to serving as Assistant Professor of violin and viola, as well as College Orchestra Director in the Music Department at the State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz.

She is a member of the contemporary group, the Poné Ensemble based in the Hudson Valley. She performs regularly with the Minnesota and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras, and locally with groups like the Albany Symphony and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic.

Equally enthusiastic about the value of education and the necessity of investing in younger generations, Christiana Fortune-Reader has developed her breadth as an educator through a variety of teaching positions. She is a passionate advocate of music education at the collegiate level, privately, in PK-12 schools, and in educational outreach and community engagement programs. Her interests broadly look at music as a tool for social change and community building, both in the early childhood, among college-aged students, and within larger communities of professional ensembles.

She holds a doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music, as well as other degrees from the University of Southern California and the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Donald McInnes, Jeffrey Irvine, Lynne Ramsey, Karen Ritscher, and Carol Rodland.