Christopher Nichols, clarinet and Christine Delbeau, piano

Critically acclaimed clarinetist Christopher Nichols enjoys a dynamic career with performances across the United States and in Italy, Costa Rica, Belgium, Malta, Canada, and the Netherlands. He joined the faculty of the University of Delaware School of Music in 2013 where he is Associate Professor of Clarinet.

Nichols regularly performs with orchestras throughout the Mid-Atlantic and is a member of Christiana Winds. He has recently collaborated with the acclaimed Serafin Ensemble, the Copeland Quartet, as well as members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He has served for over a decade in Army Bands and is currently the first sergeant of the 287th Army Band in Wilmington, Delaware.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation and public radio in Kansas, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Michigan, have broadcast his recordings. In 2015, the Delaware Division of the Arts awarded him an Established Artist Fellowship recognizing his work as a solo recitalist. He has released solo and chamber music recordings on internationally distributed labels including Navona Records, Viduus Records and Albany Records, which have won praise in publications such as Gramophone, Fanfare, NACWPI Journal, De Klarinet, and Pizzicato. 

Pianist Christine Delbeau has performed as a soloist and collaborative pianist in the nation’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie-Weill Recital Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, and she has played in concerts abroad at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and the Tonhalle in Zurich. She has performed in numerous chamber music recitals with concertmasters and principal members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Christine Delbeau has also performed in the Fiddlefest Gala Concert, which took place at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

In addition to numerous regional and national recital appearances, performances have included invitations to play with colleagues and guest artists at the Society of Composers Inc. National Conference in Albuquerque, NM, the NACWPI International Conference in Vancouver, BC, and she has performed on several occasions for the Victoria International Arts Festival, Gozo, Malta. She has collaborated with colleagues at the International Clarinet Association Festival and has also performed with them at several National Flute Conventions.

Christine Delbeau is Professor of Piano at the University of Delaware, where she teaches applied piano, chamber music, keyboard literature, and piano pedagogy. She frequently presents master classes and serves as an adjudicator in the region and beyond. Former students have successful careers as performers and pedagogues throughout the United States and abroad.