Season 50 Featured Musicians
Andrew Bruington - Percussion
Featured April, 2022
Raised in Grand Junction, Andrew Bruington graduated from Central High School. He holds a bachelors in music education from Colorado State University and a masters in music education from Central Washington University through the American Band College.
Andrew has been the band director at Delta Middle School since 2008, and since 2010, he has performed as a percussionist with the VSA Orchestra and Chorus as well as with the Valley Youth Orchestra.
When not playing or teaching, he enjoys playing board games with his wife, Kayln, and friends and taking care of his fur baby, Sydney.
“The VSA has afforded me the opportunity to play music beyond what I do during the school day and given me the chance to play with musicians from all walks of life and from all over the Valleys,” he said. “This is exactly what music is supposed to do: connect people together.”
Kay Woods (violin)
Featured April, 2022
The year was 1970. Just as the little group that was to become the VSA Orchestra held its first practice in the North Fork Valley, I held a violin for the first time—smelled the fresh varnish, while gently lifting it out of its three-quarter-sized cradle.
As a fifth grader, I never imagined being this excited about learning an instrument, as reading music was a struggle. But after hearing a live soloist in my grade school gymnasium, I was sure about my choice. My mother promptly signed me up for violin lessons. However, my first teacher, a towering handsome member of the Minnesota Orchestra, broke the sad news to my parents: I would never make the junior high orchestra. Woefully shy, I clammed up in lessons. But my mother knew better and promptly switched teachers.
Nora Kniskern (violin)
Featured February, 2022
The VSA bids fond farewell to Nora, who retired from the VSA in January, and thanks her for her dedication and joy in music.
Nora started playing violin in Eau Claire, WI, at age 8, but not before struggling through endless piano lessons and fights with her two siblings for practice time on the keyboard. Realizing that at least one of her children needed to play something other than piano, Nora’s mom signed her up for Suzuki violin lessons. “It was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
Nora played through high school, though there was no orchestra at the schools she attended until her junior and senior years. She participated in state solo and ensemble competitions and successfully auditioned for the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies at age 12. She joined a strolling string group, Mellifluous Strings, made up of high school violinists. She started college as a music major, and studied abroad for a semester at the University of London where she met with teachers she knew from Suzuki summer music camps in Wisconsin. As a sophomore, she became an English major and left her violin behind.
Cindy Swanson (trombone)
Featured February, 2022
Cindy’s musical education began early. Her father played guitar in local bands and taught Cindy and her siblings to play guitar, piano, and drums. “Music was always a huge part of family life.”
In fifth grade, Cindy began playing baritone, taking it on full time in seventh grade, but only after her band director bribed her with a candy bar. “I really wanted to play percussion!” She taught herself trombone that year, but her arms weren’t quite long enough to work the slide, so she stuck with the baritone.
As a freshman in Brighton, CO, she rediscovered her passion for trombone because, “I really wanted to play in jazz band, and I realized that my arms had finally grown long enough!” As a sophomore, she was first chair.
By her senior year, she was playing five different instruments (baritone, French horn, trombone, trumpet, and alto sax) in five different bands, and she directed the pit orchestra for the drama club and sang in the choir. She received the Louis Armstrong Award, the "top senior jazz award," given to only one recipient per high school, in recognition of “outstanding musical achievement and an incredible dedication” to the program.
Dan Lamar (viola) and Hannah Wieder (violin)
Featured December, 2021
Dan and Hannah in 2021
Dan and Hannah in 2012
Dan Lamar began his musical journey in Seattle in 1949 at the age of six. His parents sacrificed and were determined to provide music lessons for Dan. Blessed to live in the creative Seattle area, he played in the orchestra through grade school and high school. He attended Seattle Pacific University and performed in the symphony while he earned his degree in engineering science. Three years later he completed his master’s degree in physics.
In 1997, with wife Nancy and their children, the Lamars moved to Montrose and immediately got involved playing the violin at church and singing in the choir. He soon joined the VSA, picked up the viola for the first time, and fell in love with it. It is now his instrument of choice.
Dan’s love of music and cherished appreciation for his exposure to musical opportunities in his youth led him to become integrally involved with the Valley Youth Orchestra (VYO) in January, 1999, in its earliest stages as well as its growth and development since. He has thoroughly treasured mentoring and sharing his passion for the violin and viola with young people.
Hannah Weider, Dan’s granddaughter, moved to Montrose with her family in 2010.
The Hellecksons
Jacob, Stephanie, Karen, and Brent
Featured October 2021
In 1994, the Hellecksons fled the Front Range of Colorado in search of a more rural lifestyle. They purchased a small vineyard near Paonia, built a small stone cottage, and started what would become the Stone Cottage Cellars winery.
The Helleckson-VSA connection began a few years later, in early 2000, when seven-year-old Stephanie played violin in the second half of the Valley Youth Orchestra’s inaugural season at the Lamborn Valley School in Paonia. Five years later, Jacob also joined the VYO as a cellist. Brent was soon recruited as a VYO cellist mentor, and Karen became president of the VYO Board, completing the Helleckson family immersion. They continued their VYO involvement until 2009, when they collectively graduated to the VSA Orchestra. The family has also collectively sung with the VSA Chorus a few times. Despite the changes of nearly 22 years, the VSA has remained a constant staple in the Helleckson’s lives.