Faculty

A team of dedicated music educators leads our music education program. We hire professional music instructors and performing musicians who demonstrate a love for music, a passion for excellence, and a strong interest in guiding students to achieve their potential. A large percentage of our faculty are CHBA alumni who feel strongly about the positive impact of CHBA on their lives and wish to share that enriching experience with new generations of young people.

Music FacultyMusic Directors

Master Class Instructors

Conductor PhotoAuxiliary Center Instructors

Administrative Staff

Steve Asheim

Steve Asheim co-teaches the Trumpet Master Classes for our upper bands and is also one of our auxiliary Beginning & Intermediate Band class instructors. He is a graduate of Western State College of Colorado and received his Master’s Degree from the University of Northern Colorado. He taught public school music for thirty-one years; six in the Northglenn School District and twenty-five at Heritage High School. In 2002, he retired as director of bands at Heritage High School of Littleton. Mr. Asheim has been guest conductor of twenty-five Colorado league honor bands and served as conductor of the 1987 Colorado All-State Jazz Ensemble. He conducted the Rocky Mountain Brassworks British Brass Band for thirteen years. He also conducted the Denver El Jebel Shrine Band for two years. He was appointed conductor of the Western State College Colorado Brass Band in 2005. In 1983, Mr Asheim received the Colorado Bandmasters’ Hall of Fame Award and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Western State College. He also received the 1997-98 Colorado IAJE Jazz Educator of the Year Award. In 1990, he was a finalist for the Colorado Department of Education’s Colorado Teacher of the Year Award and in 1991 was awarded the prestigious National Educator Award from the Milken Family Foundation. Mr. Asheim has been on the CHBA faculty since 2008.He has been on the CHBA faculty since 2008.

Email: s.asheim@msn.com

Shaun Burley

Shaun Burley is one of our auxiliary Beginning & Intermediate Band class instructors. He graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in Clarinet Performance from DePaul Universtiy in Chicago in 2007 with Highest Honors. While in Chicago, Shaun performed with the Chicago Classical Orchestra and was a founding member of the DePaul Student New Music Ensemble. Mr. Burley is currently a member of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra and the Colorado Wind Ensemble. He is an alumnus of CHBA and has been on the faculty since 2008.

Email: shaunburley@earthlink.net

Teresa Carroll

Teresa Carroll teaches the French Horn Master Classes for our upper bands and is one of our auxiliary Beginning & Intermediate Band class instructors. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Instrumental Music Education from Wayland Baptist University in Texas, and a Master of Music Education Degree at CU Boulder. Ms. Carroll currently travels to students’ homes and schools throughout the Denver Metro area, teaching horn, trumpet, piano, and beginning woodwinds. She is the Principal Horn for the Arapahoe Philharmonic Orchestra and the Horn ‘visiting artist’ at Denver School of the Arts. In addition, she is a member of the Aurora Symphony and Brass Quintet, the Rocky Mountain Horn Ensemble, Denver Concert Band (summer), and subs with various other area orchestras and ensembles. She has been on the CHBA faculty since the fall of 2010.

Email: tdcarroll62@gmail.com

Heather Davis

Heather Davis is the Personnel Manager of the Colorado Honor Band Association and is a woodwind specialist who teaches the Clarinet Master Classes for our upper bands.  Mrs. Davis teaches woodwind sectionals at Arapahoe High School; Euclid, Goddard, Newton, and Powell Middle Schools; and Beginning Band at Twain and Peabody Elementary Schools in the Littleton Public Schools, as well as serving as a woodwind instructor for marching bands at Columbine, Heritage, and Littleton High Schools.  She teaches flute, clarinet, saxophone and oboe privately. Mrs. Davis received a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master’s Degree in Wind Instruments from the University of Michigan.  She is active as a clinician and adjudicator in the Denver area and performs with the Colorado Wind Ensemble and Woodwinds Three.  Mrs. Davis has been with CHBA since 1987.

Email: hdavis7821@comcast.net

Jim Donaldson

Jim Donaldson, teacher of Trumpet Master Classes for our upper bands and director of the brass chamber ensembles, has been uninterruptedly associated with the organization since 1964, first as a band member, and commencing in 1971, as a trumpet instructor. He has Bachelors and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Denver. He practiced law for many years, and now teaches at Red Rocks Community College. He has played with the Aurora Symphony, the Windjammers Jazz Orchestra, and has been a practicing Artist at the Denver School of the Arts, the Denver Public School Arts magnet school. He is on the board of the CHBA and the Littleton Community Music Association.

Email: jfdonaldsn@aol.com

Keith Ewer

Keith Ewer directs the Pop-Rock Ensemble, teaches the Percussion Master Classes, and serves as stage manager at concerts. He received his Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Northern Colorado. Mr. Ewer is a free-lance percussionist and works as the house percussionist for the Arvada Center. He is also the coordinator for the Front Range Youth Symphony, teaches private percussion lessons, and gives percussion clinics at a variety of schools along the front range. Mr. Ewer has been on the CHBA faculty since 1982.

Email: keith-e@arvadacenter.org

Keith Farmer

Keith Farmer co-directs Symphony Winds. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his Master’s Degree in Music Education from the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago. Mr. Farmer plays trumpet and is the Assistant Director of the Colorado Wind Ensemble. He was the band and orchestra director at Elizabeth High School in Elbert County from 1999-2003 and he was the instrumental music director and fine arts department chair at Rock Canyon High School and Rocky Heights Middle School in Douglas County from 2003-2005. Currently, Mr. Farmer is director of bands at Grandview High School in the Cherry Creek School District. He is a member of CMEA, CBA, ASBDA, and Phi Beta Mu. Mr. Farmer is an alumnus of CHBA and has been on the CHBA faculty since 1995.

Email: kfarmer2@cherrycreekschools.org, kfarmer117@comcast.net

Sharon Gayley

Sharon Gayley teaches the Low Brass Master Classes for our upper bands and is one of our auxiliary Beginning & Intermediate Band class instructors. She is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. Ms. Gayley played baritone and trombone in the Denver Municipal Band and now sings in the Colorado Symphony Chorus. She taught instrumental music in the Aurora Public Schools and currently teaches general music, instrumental music, and hand bells at St. Mary’s Academy. Ms. Gayley is a CHBA alumna. She was a member of the CHBA faculty from 1979 to 1992, then rejoined the faculty in 2002.

Email: srgayley@earthlink.net

Katie Grosskopf

Katie Grosskopf is our new Office Administrator. Katie graduated in June from the University of Denver with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance.  Katie is a free lance musician with groups throughout the Denver-metro area and is the principal second violinist with the Lakewood Symphony Orchestra. She has also taught violin privately and through school organizations around the city for the last five years. A former trombone playing, in middle school and high school, she is excited to be involved in the band world again and is enjoying meeting all the new faces. Stop in and say hi or email anytime!

Email: katie@cohonorband.org

Barbara Shepherd Kuzera

Barbara Shepherd Kuzera received her Bachelor of Music in Brass Performance from Boston University College of Fine Arts and Master of Music in Horn Performance from New England Conservatory of Music studying most recently with James Sommerville, Principal Horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.   In addition to extensive freelancing in the Boston and Chicago areas, Mrs. Kuzera has performed with the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Zephyr Woodwind Quintet.  She was a founding member of the NEC Outreach Woodwind Quintet and can be heard on Albany Record’s What a Piece of Work is Man: the Shakespeare Concerts with Soprano, Maria Ferrante.  Mrs. Kuzera recently moved to Colorado from Massachusetts and is currently teaching and freelancing in the Denver metro area.  She joined the CHBA faculty in the winter of 2013.

Email: barbara.s.shepherd@gmail.com

Steve Martin

Steve Martin directs Advanced Band.  Mr. Martin graduated from CU Boulder and received his Master’s Degree in Conducting from Southern Oregon University.  He has been teaching for twenty-six years and is currently in his first year as the Band & Orchestra director at D’Evelyn Jr/Sr High School. This past fall, the D’Evelyn Marching Band won their first 2A State Marching Championship. His groups have been selected by audition to perform at the State Music Convention seven times, including three groups from his previous position at Falcon Bluffs Middle School.  Furthermore, his band program has been designated a Colorado Bandmasters Association “Exemplary Band” award winner eight times in his career, including 6 at Falcon Bluffs. In 2008, Mr. Martin was selected as the middle school recipient of the Jeffco Foundation’s “My Teacher, My Hero” award.  He has been on the CHBA faculty since 2008, although he did work with the organization in the early 1980′s as a summer counselor and instructor (when he had hair).

Email: slimsmarti@gmail.com

Glenn Nitta

Glenn Nitta teaches the Saxophone Master Classes for our upper bands, and is one of our auxiliary Beginning & Intermediate Band class instructors. Glenn has his Bachelor’s of Music Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Mr. Nitta taught band in the Denver Public School District for a total of 33 years, and he retired in 2011 after 16 years at Hamilton Middle School. He received the Mile High Teacher Award and plays professionally around the Metropolitan Area. Mr. Nitta has been on the CHBA faculty since 2005.

Email: nitta111@comcast.net

Martha O’Connor

Martha O’Connor is one of our auxiliary Beginning & Intermediate Band class instructors. She studied Music Education at Western State College in Gunnison, and she has been teaching in Douglas County for 15 years. Mrs. O’Connor also recently retired after 20 years directing the Castle Rock Community Handbell Choir. She has been on the CHBA faculty since 2011.

Email: oconnor64@comcast.net

Orlando Otis

Orlando Otis is the Director of Symphony Winds—only its third director in the last 28 years. He is a 1986 graduate of Louisiana Tech University, where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. Mr. Otis began teaching in 1986 at Gateway High School. In 1992, he became the Director of Bands and Instrumental Music Department Chair for the Denver School of the Arts. He also directed the Denver Public Schools Citywide Marching Band for six years, and the Denver All City Jazz and Symphonic Band for seven years. Mr. Otis went on to be the Director of Bands and Department Chair for the Performing Arts at Chaparral High School in Douglas County, Colorado, directing bands for eleven years that consistently received superior ratings locally and nationally. Currently, Mr. Otis is the Performing Arts Department Chair and Director of Bands for Legend High School in Douglas County. He received the 1996 “Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education,” the 1999 and 2001 IBM/CHSAA “Outstanding Educator Award,” and most recently, the 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2006 Who’s Who of American High School Teachers. His ensembles have performed at CMEA, the Tournament of Roses Parade, numerous Bowl Games, Hollywood Christmas Parade, and the Reno International Jazz Festival as well as in Hawaii, London, and Ireland. His professional affiliations include: CBA, MENC, IAJE, ASBDA, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha. Mr. Otis is also in demand as a band clinician and adjudicator. He has been on the CHBA faculty since 1998.

Email: olotis1@gmail.com

Brenda Reinicke

Brenda Reinicke teaches the Flute Master Classes for our upper bands. She graduated from Arizona State University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Flute Performance. She is currently teaching privately and playing with the Denver Pops Orchestra. Mrs. Reinicke has been on the CHBA faculty since 1994.

Email: BrendaR4@comcast.net

Susan Smith

Susan Smith is the Executive Director of CHBA. Additionally, she teaches at the Beginning and Intermediate Band auxiliary centers in Denver, Centennial, Littleton, and Golden. She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley. She has been a teacher and administrator in both public and private education since 1972. Mrs. Smith has served as a clinician at the elementary level and an adjudicator in the Denver metropolitan area. She is a member of the Colorado Music Educators Association. She was nominated for inclusion in the 1992 edition of Who’s Who Among Rising Young Americans, received an award from the Governor’s Office for “Raising Colorado,” and was nominated for the 7 Everyday Hero Award and for the 2003 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. Mrs. Smith has been on the CHBA faculty since 1968.

Email: ssmith@cohonorband.org

Sarah Starbuck

Sarah Starbuck directs Beginning Band and Intermediate Band. Mrs. Starbuck received her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Colorado in Boulder and is currently the Director of Bands and Orchestra at Thornton Middle School in the Adams 12 School District. She is a CHBA alumna, and she has been a member of the CHBA faculty on and off since 2000.

Email: sarah.starbuck@adams12.org

Michael Vigliotti

Michael Vigliotti teaches the Double Reeds Master Classes for our upper bands. He received his Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from Stetson University and earned a Master of Music in Oboe Performance from Southern Methodist University. Before moving to Denver, Michael taught private lessons for nine years in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He has been the oboe sectionals teacher for Arapahoe High School since 2004. Mr. Vigliotti performs regularly on oboe and english horn with the Colorado Wind Ensemble. He was principal oboe of the Texas Wind Symphony for eight years. He also toured the United States as Solo Oboist with the Mantovani Orchestra for the 1988-89 season. Mr. Vigliotti currently teaches privately and maintains a woodwind repair shop and oboe reed making business He has been on the CHBA faculty since 2003.

Email: mavigliotti@juno.com
Web Site: www.denveroboe.com

Ann Wyatt

Ann Wyatt is one of our auxiliary Beginning & Intermediate Band class instructors.  She received her Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Nebraska and her Master of Education degree from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. Mrs. Wyatt taught 5th grade through 12th grade band in Wood River, Nebraska, where she played trombone with the Kearney Area Symphony Orchestra.  She moved to Colorado in 2007 and has taught Elementary Music in the Littleton Public School District ever since.  Mrs. Wyatt has been on the CHBA faculty since 2010.

Email: ann.m.carlson@gmail.com