Christine de Michele, M.A. is an award-winning vocalist, published songwriter (DE), keyboardist, and music educator. She has written and released two acclaimed albums—Maritime Cowboy and View—and is currently an active improvising performer / collaborator in the Carolinas.

She has recorded with Grammy-winner Malcolm Burn (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris), Princess Superstar (Grammy nominee), Brad Roberts (of Crash Test Dummies), Greg Calbi, and Brian Landrus; appeared as an on-screen pianist in the 2025 film Christmas in Mistletoe; and has performed with many distinguished musicians over nearly three decades.

For 15 years, de Michele contributed to the advancement of New York City arts & culture, designating more than 10,000 hours of private music instruction through her teaching practice and serving in creative leadership roles including communications director, program manager, program designer, choral director, grant writer, and board member at organizations 92NY, Jazz Generation, Turtle Bay Music School, NYC DOE, Music for Autism, and international groups such as Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies. She has provided pro bono artistic support to New York Philharmonic (Very Young People’s Concerts) and the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, extending her commitment to high-quality music experiences for young participants. Most recently, de Michele served as a communications strategist with Penn Creative Strategy, a firm whose arts clients include Jacob’s Pillow, Fractured Atlas, Brooklyn Arts Council, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) and Asia Society. She continues as a fractional consultant on culturally relevant projects.

Early in her career, she spent two years touring the Northeast as an indie singer-songwriter, performing at small clubs such as The Middle East and TT the Bears, and taught voice and songwriting on the faculty of the National Guitar Workshop in Boston.

She holds dual B.A. degrees in Music and English Literature from Saint Michael’s College, studied Jazz Performance and Theory at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (now Ara), and graduated magna cum laude with an M.A. in Music & Music Education from Columbia University.

STORY

What on earth are you doing playing the saxophone?

Consequently, the most effective question of my middle school years. My band teacher said I should quit saxophone and audition for the District Choir. Shy kid singing with no one around — or so I thought. I took his advice, and call it beginner’s luck, a keen ear or both, I won First Chair.

I started performing out at 15, and at 16, earned the Maine State “Best Jazz Vocalist” award. Quitting the saxophone was turning out to be good.

Sometimes, you get lucky when a teacher sees something before you do.

After undergrad, I moved to Boston and coached hundreds of singers, fronted a band that performed around the Northeast, recorded an album in a bathroom, and earned TV placements for my songs in Germany.

I had a vision for New York. I knew I could build a teaching practice there, and become an artist amidst the city canvas. My move was funded by an I.T. company, but after the music-loving CEO hosted a karaoke night, I had it coming:

What on earth are you doing selling I.T. services?

That got me thinking. I learned of a professor at Columbia University who had collaborated with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to study flow in children’s music learning. That convinced me to apply, and I was accepted and won a scholarship. I.T was out.

I started traveling between family homes, testing ideas with curious learners while working on my graduate degree in Music & Music Education.

After graduation and in the margins between work and teaching, my lunch break became an investigative lab. A 30-day street performance experiment in Central Park led me to a 365-day music-making challenge in the practice rooms at 92NY, down the hall from my office. One day, a knock.

Why on earth haven’t you recorded these songs?

Said renowned jazz artist Brian Landrus in the doorway on his surprise visit. Later, while upstate over New Year’s, I asked my host if I could play the piano. That was GRAMMY-winner Malcolm Burn, who invited me to his studio the next day. Maritime Cowboy was praised by a Sony Music Executives, The Juilliard School, a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. A slew of listeners and my student’s families funded the work. Things were starting to intertwine. The following year, one hundred six-year-olds became my choir.

Suddenly, I had a powerful glimpse at music, curiosity, cognition and play.

To that end, I spent the better part of the pandemic creating and testing a music puzzle called Mystery Mashup — the culmination of a 10,000 hours of private music instruction — still new to North Carolina, I wandered into an empty church — as exploring musicians does — to play the Petrof. That afternoon, late Fall 2022, the Reverend peeked out from a back room.

Where on earth did you come from?

2.5 years as resident church vocalist-pianist and totaling 75 dates/year…suddenly, things were starting to come full circle. I looked fondly on those early Boston days, and the challenge of first performing as a self-accompanied singer. “Alas”, I said to myself, “Quite the troubadour, aren’t we.”