Symphony Orchestra
Music Director Candidates, 2009-'10

Three candidates will be auditioning for the position of Music Director with the Youth Orchestra of the Rockies, and will each conduct the ensemble for one semester. At the conclusion of Spring 2010, a permanent Music Director will be chosen. Please read below to learn more information about the three candidates:


Leslie Stewart, MD Candidate, Spring '09
Leslie Stewart is Director of String Pedagogy at Colorado State University and Coordinator of CSU’s Summer Master of Music Education degree with an Emphasis in Conducting. In addition, she teaches violin, coaches chamber music, and plays second violin in the CSU Faculty String Quartet. Ms. Stewart is a first violinist in Pro Musica Colorado, performs regularly with the Ft. Collins Symphony and Cheyenne Symphony, and has been a member of the Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival Orchestra since 1980.

Previous academic posts include Old Dominion University where she served as Assistant Professor of Violin and Director of Orchestral Activities beginning in 2000 and received the “Most Inspirational Faculty Member” awards from the College of Arts and Letters in 2006.

A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Ms. Stewart holds Bachelor and Masters degrees in Music Performance from the University of Southern California. She was a member of the Puerto Rico Symphony and Alabama Symphony before moving to Northern California in 1989 to conduct the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra and direct the Marin Symphony’s Youth Programs. For the next eight years, she served as Music Director and Conductor of the Bay Youth Orchestra of Virginia culminating in the Bay Youth Symphony’s performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2006.

In addition to guest conducting the Youth Orchestra of the Rockies, Ms. Stewart is currently Interim Assistant Conductor with the Longmont Symphony and Music Director of the Health & Wellness Orchestra, a community ensemble which was founded at Poudre Valley Hospital in October, 2008. Recent guest conducting includes a Family concert with the Longmont Symphony as well as appearances with the Millikin-Decatur Symphony in Illinois, Orquestra de Jundai in Brazil, Ball State University in Indiana, Red Mountain Chamber Orchestra in Alabama and the Women’s Philharmonic in California. She has also worked with numerous honor orchestras in Virginia, Maryland, California, and Colorado including the Colorado All-State String Orchestra and Jefferson County Honor Orchestra.

Ms. Stewart has been a guest lecturer at University of Colorado in Boulder, Ball State University (Indiana), Cabrillo College (California) and the University of Campinas (Sao Paulo, Brazil). She has presented papers at numerous Conductors Guild national conferences and clinics for Colorado and Virginia Music Educators Association state conferences. She has also taught conducting workshops for the American String Teachers Association national conferences in 2007 (Detroit) and 2008 (Albuquerque) which were sponsored by the Conductors Guild.


Thomas Blomster, MD Candidate, Fall '09
Thomas began his lifelong love affair with music at the age of four when his parents took him to an orchestra concert featuring The Little Train of the Caipira by Heiter Villa-Lobos and Ballet Suite from Estancia by Alberto Ginastera, both works featuring percussion. It was at this concert that Thomas met his most important teacher John Galm, who was Professor of Percussion at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Thomas studied with Professor Galm through high school, and at the age of fourteen Thomas was accepted to the prestigious Aspen Music School to study with Charles Owen, principal percussionist with the Philadelphia Orchestra for 18 years under Maestro Eugene Ormandy. That summer Bill Moyers came to Aspen to film a PBS special on Aaron Copland, who was always in residence during the summers in Aspen. Mr. Owen saw fit to assign Thomas the gong part on Mr. Copland’s famous Fanfare for the Common Man, with Copland conducting as a part of the PBS special. In addition to working with Aaron Copland, Thomas spent four formative years performing at the Aspen Music Festival, where he also worked and studied with Elliot Carter, Krystof Penderecki, and members of the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony.

Upon graduation from high school, Thomas was accepted to the Hochschule fur Musik in West Berlin, Germany, where he studied with members of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Deutsche Oper. He was offered a position with the Theatre des Westens after substituting for a fellow percussionist, but chose to return to the USA to continue his studies with timpanist James Rago of the Louisville Orchestra, whom he had met and studied with in Aspen. Shortly after Thomas began his studies at the University of Louisville, KY, he became a member of the Louisville Orchestra, where he performed and recorded for four years, working with composers Karel Husa, Morton Gould, Michael Colgrass, Lukas Foss, David Amram, Claude Baker, Maestro Lawrence Leighton Smith and many others. He also performed with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria (Mexico City) and the Evansville (IN) Philharmonic at this time.

When the Louisville Orchestra went on strike in the fall of 1984, Thomas moved to Denver to be timpanist of the Denver Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Joann Falletta. Since that time, Thomas has also performed with the Colorado Ballet Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Boulder Philharmonic, the Bedford Springs Music Festival (PA), the Colorado Music Festival, and was Percussionist and Artist in Residence at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Denver. He also decided to return to school to complete a degree in conducting, earning a Bachelor of Music Performance degree from the Metropolitan State College of Denver and a Master of Arts in Conducting from the University of Denver. Thomas’ baton once belonged to Frederick Fennel and is a gift from his mentor and teacher Dr. William Nichols, who received it as a gift from Dr. Fennel.

He has led the following ensembles on the podium: the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, the Denver Chamber Orchestra, the Mostly Strauss Orchestra, the Boulder Brass, and was founder and Music Director of the Mercury Ensemble for eleven years. He was Assistant Conductor for the Junior Symphony Guild’s educational programs “Inside the Orchestra” and “Tiny Tots” for ten years.

Currently Thomas is Music Director of the Colorado Chamber Orchestra and the Mile High Community Band as well as percussionist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and the Denver Municipal Band. As an educator, he currently teaches at Red Rocks Community College and previously taught at Metropolitan State College of Denver and Monmouth College (IL). He continues to be a freelance musician throughout Colorado, writes and arranges music, plays drum set for Goat Magnet (a jazz group), jazz vibes with the UFS, and has performed in New Zealand with Tempist Fujit, a rock and roll band. His composition, A Brighton Serenade, is the title cut for The Mercury Ensembles’ CD for Sonora Productions. Thomas resides in Fort Collins, Colorado with his wonderful wife pianist Noriko Nikki Tsuchiya and enjoys cycling, hiking, and gardening when he gets a break from his many demanding musical roles.


Jerome Fleg, MD Candidate, Spring '10
Jerome Greyson Fleg has conducted and performed throughout the United States, Europe and South America. Mr. Fleg is the conductor of Colorado Youth Symphony's Philharmonia Wind Ensemble and the assistant conductor of their Philharmonia Orchestra. He has also served as conductor for the Archipelago Music Festival in Traverse City, Michigan. Jerome Fleg has adjudicated various national and statewide competitions such as the National MTNA Music Competition, Aurora Symphony Concerto Competiton and various all state groups.

Mr. Fleg is currently principal clarinet of the Wyoming Symphony, Boulder Chamber Orchestra and the Antero Winds, and plays clarinet/bass clarinet with the Central City Opera. Mr. Fleg has toured as the principal clarinet with the Mantovani Orchestra and has played with groups such as the Colorado Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, and Columbia Symphony Orchestra.

Jerome Fleg is currently on the faculty of the University of Wyoming. He has presented master-classes and clinics throughout the country and abroad at places such as the University of Kansas, Iowa State University, and Carleton College. As a member of the Antero Winds (wind quintet), Mr. Fleg won 1st Prize in the Plowman Chamber Music Competition and silver medal in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The group has also participated residencies with the Aspen Music Festival and the “El Sistema” Youth Orchestra Program in Venezuela. Mr. Fleg has received awards such as the “Best Should Teach” silver award from the University of Colorado, 1st place in the University of Northern Colorado Orchestra Concerto Competition, Dean's Scholarship from the University of Northern Colorado, and the "Martha and William Bill" Memorial Prize at the Peabody Conservatory.


Concert Orchestra

Kathy Murphy, Concert Orchestra Conductor
Kathy Murphy received her BA in Violin performance from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, where she graduated summa cum laude, and her MM in Violin performance from Colorado State University. Upon leaving CSU, she then completed all levels of Suzuki Violin Teacher Training under renowned Suzuki pedagogue, James Maurer of Denver.

Her performing career has included numerous orchestras and chamber festivals throughout the Midwest, including the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra, where she was also chosen to play in the Colorado Springs Symphony Chamber Orchestra, and the Wyoming Symphony, where she was Assistant Concertmaster and a member of the Wyoming Symphony String Quartet. Most recently she was in Bismarck, ND, where she was Assistant Concertmaster of the Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra, a member of the North Dakota String Quartet, and Concertmaster of Bismarck’s annual Messiah Festival along with performing in many other solo and chamber concerts throughout the region.

In addition to her performing, Kathy has always maintained an active teaching studio, teaching students of all ages. While in Bismarck, she was on the faculty of Bismarck State College as well as being the Founder and Director of the River Bend Conservatory of Music, the Bismarck State Music Institute, and the Dakota Youth Symphony.

After a twenty year absence, Kathy and her husband, Dan, also a professional violinist and the owner of Murphy Violin Shop, happily had the opportunity to return to Fort Collins. Kathy is currently a member of the Fort Collins Symphony, and also performs with the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Fort Collins, and the Canyon Concert Ballet.


YOR Staff

Merete Cunningham - Executive Director
Liz Ewing - Symphony Orchestra Manager, Librarian
Staci Tomaszewski, Percussion Manager
Jordan Liebing, Graphic Design
Chris Jusell, Webmaster and Web Design

Executive Committee

Laurie Pessetto - President, Acting Secretary
Kristi Gilsdorf - Vice President
Meg Maciejewski - Treasurer
Nancy Kaufman - Past President
Anna Maria Georg - Immediate Past President

Board of Directors

A Board of Directors administers the Youth Orchestra of the Rockies and is elected annually by the parents of the Orchestra members. The Board is responsible for setting policies, the budget, long range plans, and the operating procedures of the Orchestra, and for hiring the artistic and administrative personnel. The Board members, elected for two year terms, represent two constituencies: parents and community members-at-large. One additional member is elected by the Orchestra as a youth member.

Committees, under the direction of the Board, are responsible for carrying out much of the ongoing work of the Orchestra. All parents of members are strongly encouraged to join at least one committee to lend support for routine and special projects. A listing of the committees and their responsibilities is available from the Board.

Board Members
Elaine Badière
Becky Conner - Past President
Rebecca Hunget
Haide Lefebvre
John Roberts
Wilfred Schwartz, Honorary Member

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