French-Canadian flutist Christian Paquette is the newly appointed principal flute of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra. He previously held the positions of Principal flute with the York Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. He is a doctoral candidate at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University under the tutelage of International soloist Marina Piccinini.  He has also worked in flute repairs with Adam Workman, founder of Flutistry Boston.  He has frequently performed back in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Thirteen Strings Ensemble.  He was also the President of the Ottawa Flute Association from 2015 to 2017.

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Christian has performed at the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Shriver Hall Concert Series in Baltimore MD, Music and Beyond Festival, recitals at the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage, Concerto performances with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra (Nielsen) under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the Farnborough Symphony Orchestra (Reinecke), the University of Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (Ibert and Nielsen), and with the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra (Rodrigo). He is the recipient of numerous competition awards, such as the MPIMC (Marina Piccinini International Master Classes) Concerto Competition, first prize at the Yale Gordon Competition, Canadian Music Competition, the National Music Festival, the NACO Bursary Competition and many others. For the past two summers, Christian was a Fellow in the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. Past teachers include Paula Robison, Denis Bluteau, and Camille Churchfield.

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Christian is extremely grateful to the Fondation Baxter et Alma Ricard as well as the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation for their generous support in his doctoral studies at the Peabody Institute.