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Youth orchestra welcomes new director

Chrisman is longtime Four Corners music educator

For Kurt Chrisman, music education runs in the family.

Chrisman’s father, Howard Chrisman, taught band and orchestra for decades in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico before founding the San Juan Symphony in Farmington. The elder Chrisman taught well after retirement, continuing to educate young musicians until he was 88 years old.

And while music education is something Kurt Chrisman originally tried to resist, it wasn’t long before he caught the bug himself; he ended up following his father’s footsteps and teaching band and orchestra in school systems for more than 30 years.

Chrisman retired from his Farmington school position in May, but, like his father, retirement hasn’t spelled the end of teaching. Chrisman is the new director of the San Juan Symphony Youth Orchestras. As director, he will oversee three groups of young musicians from across the region: the Junior Orchestra (grades third through fifth), the Philharmonic (middle school) and the Youth Orchestra (high school and college).

The youth program, which takes place during the school year, is about to kick off. Auditions for this 2014/15 season of the youth orchestras will be Tuesday; weekly rehearsals will begin the next week.

“I’m really looking forward to working with the kids in the communities and hopefully continuing to build the program,” he said. “We have some great music to play, so it’s going to be fun.”

Kathy Myrick, executive director of the San Juan Symphony, said the organization is thrilled to have someone who has decades of experience and many teaching achievements under his belt.

“I think he brings a wealth of experience to the position,” Myrick said. “He has great connections with the classical music community throughout the Four Corners area. It’s going to be a win-win for the kids as well as for Kurt.

“He just raises the bar with every organization he works with,” she said.

Up until a year ago, the youth symphony operated under the umbrella of Fort Lewis College. When the college announced that it planned to stop funding the program because of budget cuts, San Juan Symphony stepped forward to take it over.

The renamed San Juan Symphony Youth Orchestra was initially led by conductor and FLC visiting professor Nathan Lambert, and 85 students participated in its first year, Myrick said. When Lambert left Durango for a position at Berry College in Georgia this summer, the organization searched for a replacement.

Chrisman grew up as one of five music-playing kids. He started with the piano, and said his father subsequently put a trombone, then a cello in his hand. Deciding early that he did not want to teach music, he originally pursued an education in music performance at the University of New Mexico.

But then in college, he worked under some great mentors. That experience changed his mind.

Chrisman got a job teaching orchestra at Mayfield High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where his wife was also hired as a teacher. He kept that position for 18 years, earning a master’s degree and teaching middle school orchestras along the way. In 1998, the lure of being near family in the Four Corners prompted him and his family to move to Farmington, where he was hired as the orchestra director for Piedra Vista High School and Mesa View Middle School.

Chrisman started a new orchestra of just 11 students at Piedra Vista, and over the years his programs grew to include six orchestras comprised of more than 100 musicians, including a 75-member symphony orchestra. They consistently receiving high ratings at district and national festivals and were selected as outstanding orchestra at Four Corners Music Festival, World of Music in San Diego and Heritage Festival in Las Vegas. In 2003, the Piedra Vista String and Symphony Orchestras traveled to Vancouver, B.C., to participate in a school exchange program, and the groups have performed in Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles.

When Chrisman decided to retire in May after 16 years at Piedra Vista, he said, he wasn’t aware of the San Juan Symphony position.

“I was planning on teaching private lessons, and that was it,” he said.

But when people urged him to apply, he said, he was swayed by the optimism for the future of youth orchestra in the Four Corners.

Chrisman said he loves to be a part of the musical discovery, progression and appreciation of his students.

“Especially in music, you get to see a progress that is unbelievable in kids,” he said. “There’s a thrill when you see kids light up.”

With the San Juan Symphony Youth Orchestras, the goal is to keep helping kids find that spark, and share it with the whole community, he said.

“I want to expand the audience and the student base we have more students from Durango and the surrounding areas, and get the work out that we have a youth orchestra available.”

kklingsporn@durangoherald.com

If you go

Auditions for entrance or transfer into the San Juan Symphony Junior Orchestra or Youth Philharmonic will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in Jones Hall, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive. Visit www.sanjuansymphony.org for more information.



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