Dr. Merideth Hite Estevez is a creative catalyst, helping self-identified artists and the creatively curious discover and recover the joy of making. As an oboist, Merideth has performed with top orchestras in the US and abroad and has served on the faculties of numerous universities and schools of music, including the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Delaware. She holds degrees from Yale School of Music and The Juilliard School.

Her writing illuminates the spiritual journey of the artist through the lens of creative nonfiction, exploring the intersection of art, faith, and the human experience. Her award-winning podcast, Artists for Joy, is currently in the top 1.5% of podcasts worldwide, and her first book, The Artist’s Joy: A Guide to Getting Unstuck, Embracing Imperfection, and Loving Your Creative Life, debuted at No. 1 in the Creativity category on Audible. She shares poems and essays weekly on her popular Substack, “Arts Open Door,” and her second book, “Art Is How God Loves Us,” was called “a thought-provoking manifesto” by Publishers Weekly.

As a speaker, Merideth has been featured at Google, Hunter College’s Collaborative for Social Emotional Learning and Leading (C-SELL), Wild Goose Festival, Longy School of Music, ShePodcasts LIVE, Music Institute of Chicago, and more. As a coach, she has helped thousands of artists overcome creative block through her popular online creative recovery clusters and serves as a coach for all types of artists and arts leaders, from major museum directors to deans of art schools to writers for TV and film to Emmy-winning actors to hip hop artists.

Since moving to Metro Detroit, Michigan, she has performed as a featured artist with Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and numerous national and international performing ensembles. She returns to NYC regularly to perform the Chamber Orchestra of NY, as their second oboist/English hornist. She enjoys sharing her gifts as artist-in-residence at Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), where her husband, Rev. Dr. Edwin Estevez, is Senior Pastor.

 When she’s not playing oboe or writing, Merideth enjoys baking sourdough while listening to audiobooks. She hails from Abbeville, SC, but now lives in Bloomfield Hills, MI with her husband and two children.

 

Merideth plays on a Howarth XL oboe