Cristina Cutts Dougherty is the Principal Tuba of The Phoenix Symphony and the tubist for Seraph Brass. She was the First Prize winner of the International Tuba & Euphonium Young Artist Competition in 2016. That same year, she was unanimously chosen as the winner of the National Symphony's Summer Music Institute concerto competition and as a result she performed the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto with the orchestra as a soloist in the Kennedy Center. Upon moving to Los Angeles for her undergraduate studies, she was recognized as the “Most Promising Talent," of the Pasadena Showcase Instrumental Competition for woodwinds, brass, and strings, and went on in 2017 to win the Grand Prize overall in the same competition - the first tubist in the history of the competition to do so, and the youngest candidate in that year’s final round. Cristina has appeared as a soloist with the Colburn Orchestra and was a National YoungArts Foundation Medalist. In 2021, Cristina was a Young Artist in Residence for the radio show Performance Today with Fred Child.
Cristina has been a guest tubist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Louisville Orchestra. She has held the position of Acting Principal Tuba for the Britt Festival Orchestra since 2022, was a tuba fellow with the National Repertory Orchestra, and formerly held the position of Principal Tuba with Symphony in C and the American Youth Symphony. Cristina also held the 2020/2021 tuba fellowship for the Music Academy of the West, and received an Alumni Enterprise Award in 2021. Cristina is a proud recipient of several grants from the Sphinx Organization's National Alliance for Audition Support. In 2019, she was a fellow at Music from Angel Fire with the “Full House Brass Quintet," and as a member of the award-winning Seraph Brass, she frequently tours the United States and abroad performing concerts and engaging in educational outreach performances.
Cristina grew up in South Africa, England, New York, and New Mexico, and she began her tuba studies with Dr. Richard Antoine White in Albuquerque. She then went on to graduate with honors from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2015, where she was a finalist in the concerto competition and a pupil of trombonist Thomas Riccobono for two years. In 2019, she received her Bachelor of Music in Tuba Performance from the Colburn School, studying with Norman Pearson of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2022 with an Artist Diploma after three years of study with Craig Knox and Paul Krzywicki.
Cristina has been a guest tubist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Louisville Orchestra. She has held the position of Acting Principal Tuba for the Britt Festival Orchestra since 2022, was a tuba fellow with the National Repertory Orchestra, and formerly held the position of Principal Tuba with Symphony in C and the American Youth Symphony. Cristina also held the 2020/2021 tuba fellowship for the Music Academy of the West, and received an Alumni Enterprise Award in 2021. Cristina is a proud recipient of several grants from the Sphinx Organization's National Alliance for Audition Support. In 2019, she was a fellow at Music from Angel Fire with the “Full House Brass Quintet," and as a member of the award-winning Seraph Brass, she frequently tours the United States and abroad performing concerts and engaging in educational outreach performances.
Cristina grew up in South Africa, England, New York, and New Mexico, and she began her tuba studies with Dr. Richard Antoine White in Albuquerque. She then went on to graduate with honors from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2015, where she was a finalist in the concerto competition and a pupil of trombonist Thomas Riccobono for two years. In 2019, she received her Bachelor of Music in Tuba Performance from the Colburn School, studying with Norman Pearson of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2022 with an Artist Diploma after three years of study with Craig Knox and Paul Krzywicki.
