The Ethos West musicians

Ethos West: The Chamber Orchestra with a Broader View

The Ethos West Chamber Orchestra boasts some of the finest classical and jazz musicians in the northern Colorado region. They say they're excited to play together on challenging works that stretch their usual boundaries.

The orchestra's personnel and instrumentation are determined by the repertoire, so each concert offers a different roster of players and features different soloists. A typical Ethos West concert employs twenty to thirty players.

Below is the lineup of the conductor, soloists, and orchestra personnel for our next concert – or if it's too soon for that, our most recent one. (For the corresponding concert program, see the Concert Schedule or Program Archives.)

DR. RON HOLLEMAN, Ethos West's conductor and music director, holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in instrumental conducting from the University of Iowa. He moved to Colorado in August 1999 after retiring from Oak Park-River Forest High School in Illinois where he served as Music Department Chair and Conductor of Orchestras and Jazz Ensembles. His wind ensembles, symphony orchestras, and jazz bands appeared at state, regional, and national music conventions, and he was a frequent guest conductor/clinician for musical groups throughout the area. In addition to teaching, he founded and served as music director/conductor of the Ethos Chamber Orchestra, an acclaimed professional ensemble of the Chicago area – Ethos West is the successor to that group.

Besides directing Ethos West, Ron plays trumpet and flugelhorn with the Just Jazz Quintet (which he co-founded in 2000 with drummer Chuck Landgraf). He also freelances throughout the northern Colorado area with both classical and jazz groups, and teaches private trumpet lessons to students of all ages.

In 2007, Ron was guest conductor for the Fort Collins Symphony's June concert leading off the Taste of Fort Collins. In addition, he was one of five recipients of a 2007 Arts Alive Fort Collins Fellowship Award, accompanied by a monetary stipend, recognizing artistic innovation, integrity and quality.

The Arts Alive fellowship was the impetus for Ron to complete his third-stream orchestral composition Shambhala Suite for Jazz Quintet and Strings. This suite of five dances, inspired by Buddhist concepts and personalities, had its world premiere at Ethos West's 2008 spring concert (see this PDF for Ron's notes about the five movements). He has continued to compose, and premiered another piece, Dancing in the Rain, at the spring 2010 concert.

You can meet Ron on Facebook or email him at .

photo of Ron Holleman playing flugelhorn

The orchestra members for this program are an all-star assembly – nine of them lead their own groups! So, essentially, we can say the entire lineup for this program consists of featured soloists.

CLASSICAL:

FLUTE
   Sandi Dorsey

CLARINET
   Sterling Wilson

BASS CLARINET
   Dick Jamieson

OBOE
   Caleb Bradley

BASSOON
   Peg Stirn

HORN
   Janet Geldert

TRUMPET
   Larry Currey

JAZZ:

SAXOPHONES
   Matthew Arau
   Gary Brunner
   Dave Lunn
   Andrew Vogt

TROMBONES
   Glenn Shull
   Eileen Street
   Pat Street
   Wilson Winner

TRUMPETS
   Matt Becker
   Larry Currey
   Jon Gray
   Mark Manges

FLUGELHORN
   Ron Holleman

PIANO
   Steve Johnson

BASS
   Matt Smiley

DRUMS
   Chuck Landgraf