Artists in Residence (AIR)

In 1995, as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, a commitment was made to develop four full-time positions that would both enable the orchestra to create community service and education programs and strengthen the orchestra ensemble.

To this end, the Artist in Residence program was begun with the KSO's Burdick-Thorne String Quartet. Since that time, the Artist in Residence program has grown to eight positions; including oboe, clarinet, trombone, and timpani. As a result, the artistic level of the orchestra has soared, and the KSO's education and community programs have expanded to reach over 45,000 people and more than 190 schools in eight counties throughout Southwest Michigan.

Our current Artists in Residence are:

Vacant, Violin
Lisa A. Williams, Violin
Nicholas Jeffery, Viola
Igor Cetkovic, Cello
Gabriel Renteria-Elyea, Oboe
Georgiy Borisov, Clarinet
Edward "Kip" Hickman, Trombone
Mark Guthrie, Timpani