Behind-the-mic at the EWVS 2025:

Christine Letcher (EMT) is an Assistant Professor in Music at the University of Maine at Augusta. She teaches applied lessons in Piano and Voice, Music Theory courses, and Music History. Christine is certified by Estill Voice International, LLC, as an Estill Master Trainer. Christine is the director of UMA’s community steel drum ensemble, Vintage Steel, and is the Music Director of CODA Chorus, a community chorus in Winthrop, Maine.

Christine received a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies: Music and Political Science, from the University of Maine. In her dissertation she interviewed living classical composers about the effect of the post-9/11 political environment on their compositional process and aesthetic choices and compared them to composers from the New Deal and early Cold War period. She received a Master of Music degree in piano performance from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

Prior to moving to Maine, Christine was on the faculty of Westminster Conservatory of Music in Princeton, NJ and presented lecture recitals about women composers for seminars hosted by Westminster Choir College as well as service organizations in New Jersey. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco from 2000-2002.

Christine has performed both as a solo pianist and accompanist in the Augusta area, and as a soprano soloist with the St. Mary Schola, Oratorio Chorale, the First Parish Church in Brunswick, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Falmouth, and the Puma Jazz Quartet in Augusta. She has been a member of the St. Mary Schola since its inception in 2008 and has previously been a member of the Reprise Choral Ensemble, the Androscoggin Chorale, The Occasional Chorale, the Choral Arts Society’s Camerata, Singers, and Masterworks Choirs.

At the symposium, she will present on “How Estill Figures Transformed a Community Choir with Mostly Aging Voices.” When asked about the learning outcomes of her session, she shared:

“Picture this: It’s January 4th or 5th 2021, the acuteness of the pandemic is subsiding, and you get a phone call from someone who’s desperately seeking a music director for a community chorus, to lead them in their first in-person concert season with a concert to be performed in April 2021. You’re intrigued but one of your colleagues say, ‘Don’t do it, they don’t really know how to sing. They have a lot of enthusiasm, but they’re not a good choir.’ But you say to yourself, maybe so, but I know the Estill technique. And so you decide to take it on.

This is a true story of my debut as a choral director. We went from being a ragtag ensemble that yes, like they said, has a lot of enthusiasm, but now our audiences are growing because our group gives good performances. I could take a little bit of credit as a person who is able to persuade people to show up, and work, but I give about 95% of the credit to the Estill Voice Training model and the ease with which one can produce uniformity in a group whose median age is 70 years old. This workshop will be a brief look at all the ways that I used Estill Voice Training to reform this choir from a group of dedicated singers to a group of dedicated singers who pull off an amazing concert every time.”

★ Join us at the Estill World Voice Symposium 2025! Come experience inspiring presentations like this one — and so much more — live in Chicago from July 27–29, 2025. Get your tickets here and visit the official symposium page for all the details, including speakers, performers, and schedule. We can’t wait to welcome you!