{"id":1089,"date":"2025-02-01T16:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T22:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2026-02-05T14:52:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T20:52:56","slug":"ku-orchestras-creston-herron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/ku-orchestras-creston-herron\/","title":{"rendered":"Ode to joy: KU orchestras conductor Creston Herron"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a brisk night in Swarthout Recital Hall, the 23 musicians of KU\u2019s Prairie Fire Chamber Orchestra appear jazzed, as does their conductor, Creston Herron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never mind that it\u2019s Dec. 12, the Thursday before the gauntlet of final exams\u2014or that the students and Herron began the long week by performing twice on Sunday, with the KU Symphony Orchestra, in the School of Music\u2019s 100th edition of holiday Vespers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tonight\u2019s concert marks the giddy debut of Prairie Fire, an ensemble that Herron founded this fall to \u201cexpand the string orchestra repertoire, focusing on new voices, underrepresented populations and varied composers,\u201d he explains to the Swarthout audience. Two of the night\u2019s selections, in fact, are world premieres of new music, commissioned especially for Prairie Fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the program will begin with an \u201cold gem,\u201d Herron says, as he introduces the \u201cfiery and feisty\u201d first movement of Tchaikovsky\u2019s \u201cSouvenir de Florence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFasten your seat belts, because from beginning to end, this is true Tchaikovsky at his best,\u201d Herron continues, \u201cwith wonderful flurries and excitement, beautiful melodies and dissonances that leave the listener just in awe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSouvenir de Florence\u201d also hints that the night\u2019s performance is prelude to Prairie Fire\u2019s upcoming tour in Italy, the first international trip in the history of KU orchestras. From Jan. 8 through Jan. 15, the students will present concerts in Florence, Rome, Venice and Cremona, birthplace of the violin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allegro con spirito<\/em>, the first movement of \u201cSouvenir,\u201d also describes the lively, effusive Herron, f\u201908, now in his second year as the School of Music\u2019s director of orchestral activities. Witness his preconcert frenzy: Before his players assemble on stage, Herron warmly welcomes and prepares the youthful guests seated in the first two rows of the audience for the music they are about to hear. They are music students at Gardner-Edgerton High School and Kansas City\u2019s Sumner Academy, Herron\u2019s high school alma mater. He is oh-so-subtly recruiting them to KU by explaining the abundant musical opportunities they could encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then dashes out of the hall to retrieve the printed programs for the concert, quickly returning to distribute copies, row by row, greeting individual audience members. Eventually, he makes his entrance on stage to introduce Prairie Fire and the night\u2019s repertoire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s an unstoppable force,\u201d says Margaret Marco, professor of oboe, associate dean for performance activities and a 26-year School of Music faculty member. She credits Herron for rejuvenating the orchestral programs<\/a>, which in addition to Prairie Fire, include the KU Symphony Orchestra and the KU Philharmonic Orchestra. Herron and the Prairie Fire Chamber Orchestra presented their first concert Dec. 12, in preparation for their January concert tour in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marco first encountered Herron when he was an undergraduate student in her music theory class. \u201cI knew then he was going places,\u201d she recalls. \u201cHe was just a sponge\u2014full of curiosity and asking insightful questions. When he applied for graduate school at Rice University, I thought, \u2018Yeah, this kid is going for the stars.\u2019 He was just a joy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last fall, for the 100th Vespers, Herron asked Marco to perform an oboe solo with the Symphony. As she entered the Lied Center stage during dress rehearsal, \u201cthe change in the atmosphere was palpable,\u201d she says. \u201cThe students responded to him with such enthusiasm, and this lush, gorgeous sound was coming out of the string section that I had not heard from the KU Symphony Orchestra for many years. I started crying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melanie Lysaught, Topeka sophomore and a violin performance major, praises Herron\u2019s \u201camazing ability to draw you in and engage you in the music.\u201d The Prairie Fire ensemble has introduced her to new music and ideas she never encountered during her years of classical music study. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to experience these pieces and know that no one has ever played them before,\u201d she says. As a conductor, Herron has helped her play better as a member of an orchestra. \u201cHe emphasizes in every rehearsal that it\u2019s so important to listen to one another and play as one breathing ensemble rather than just a bunch of individuals playing at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prairie Fire member Sofia Lefort, a Lawrence sophomore majoring in music and psychology, recalls meeting Herron in fall 2022, as the School of Music was beginning its search for a new director of orchestras. Herron accepted the school\u2019s invitation to lead the KU Symphony as a guest conductor. Lefort was a high school senior who had been invited by a KU faculty member to perform, but when she arrived for the concert, \u201cthey had forgotten to put out a chair for me because I wasn\u2019t on the roster,\u201d she recalls. \u201cProfessor Herron flagged people down to get me a chair, and then he took a selfie with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was delighted when Herron accepted KU\u2019s offer to return as a faculty member. \u201cI was really happy when he got the job,\u201d she says. \u201cHe has a way of managing massive ensembles while making everyone feel heard and seen. He even asks about our families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Herron and the Prairie Fire Chamber Orchestra presented their first concert Dec. 12, in preparation for their January concert tour in Italy.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The memory of his fall 2022 \u201caudition\u201d lingers with Herron, too, because it transported him back to his years as an undergraduate violin performance major. \u201cIt brought back so many wonderful memories for me,\u201d he says. \u201cI could see myself then, and I could see what the experiences here afforded me. I can support my family because of the experiences that I had here at KU. And I thought, \u2018This is my opportunity to give back and inspire that next generation and hopefully give them the opportunity to pursue their passions and have their own careers.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt so connected with the students, and they were so responsive. It just felt very organic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herron and his wife, Dawn, and their young children moved to Lawrence in 2023 after 15 years in Houston, where he served as director of fine arts for the Klein Independent School District. He also conducted the Shepherd School of Music Campanile Orchestra at Rice University, where he earned his master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In only his second year on the KU faculty, Herron has overseen impressive growth in the three orchestral ensembles, says Marco, who notes that the string sections have doubled in size. The Symphony now includes about 85 players, most of whom are majoring or minoring in music. The 40-member Philharmonic Orchestra comprises students from all majors as well as members of the faculty, staff and community; Herron renamed the group and has challenged the musicians with a more rigorous repertoire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marco hails the Philharmonic as a prime example of Herron\u2019s impact. Previous orchestras for non-majors and community members had been hit or miss, she says. \u201cWe had a revolving door of conductors, so the consistency and the coherency of the program wasn\u2019t there\u2014unlike the band programs, where directors have stayed for long periods of time. The secondary orchestra was a ship without a rudder, and it needed somebody who\u2019s going to be here and have a commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the Philharmonic\u2019s community members has an especially personal stake in Herron\u2019s success: His mother, Courtney Wells of Kansas City, plays violin, the instrument she inspired her son to take up as a child. Mother and son share not only a passion for the violin but also the same vivacious, gift-of-gab personalities. He fondly describes her as \u201ca hoot.\u201d It takes one to know one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herron continues a musical tradition that cascades through several generations of his family, including his late great-uncle and fellow Jayhawk, Reginald Buckner, d\u201961, g\u201966, who founded the jazz program at the University of Minnesota and gained national attention for his TV series and lectures on jazz. Buckner is the latest graduate to be inducted into the School of Music\u2019s Nicholas L. Gerren Sr. Hall of Achievement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Herron and the Prairie Fire musicians rehearsed and performed in Rome\u2019s magnificent Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, designed by Michelangelo. Throughout their tour of Italy, audiences packed historic venues to hear the orchestra from Kansas.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although Herron is too young to have truly known his great-uncle, \u201chis name was synonymous with musical excellence,\u201d Herron says. \u201cHe was a force in the field of music, and I grew up knowing there was musical excellence that came before me. It set a tone for me, where I know what the bar is; I know what the possibilities are. And so why not reach for those possibilities? I know they\u2019re attainable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herron clearly announced the possibilities for KU\u2019s orchestras before he returned to the Hill. \u201cThe minute he signed the contract,\u201d Marco recalls, \u201che said, \u2018We are going to have a string orchestra, and we\u2019re going to have a vibrant orchestra for non-majors and the community to play.\u2019 He\u2019s got so much vision, and those are just two tiny tentacles of his vision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herron clearly states his bigger plan. \u201cIn the next five years, the KU orchestral program will be one of the top 20 in the nation. That is our goal,\u201d he says. \u201cWe will be seen as the mecca for music education, especially string education, in the Midwest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last summer, he established the first Midwestern Music Educators Retreat, which coincided with KU\u2019s well-known Midwestern Music Camp, for decades a fertile recruiting ground for KU music students, including Herron. The new retreat attracted teachers from six states who met with faculty from KU and across the nation to discuss rehearsal techniques and classroom innovations. The retreat was a \u201cresounding win,\u201d Herron says, and plans for this summer\u2019s retreat are well underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching and conducting were not part of Herron\u2019s plan as an undergraduate, but on a whim, he enrolled in an elective course on conducting taught by Professor Paul Tucker, then KU\u2019s director of choral ensembles. When Tucker presciently suggested that Herron might one day trade his bow for a baton, Herron dismissed the thought: \u201cMy vision for myself was to go be a performer, playing overseas with professional groups. I thought I would be a concertmaster. Conducting just never really appealed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Until it did. As a master\u2019s student in violin performance at Rice University in Houston, Herron was an Alice Pratt Brown Scholar in the Shepherd School of Music and a faculty member in the school\u2019s preparatory program for young children. \u201cI realized that I like working with kids, helping them experience their creative side through music and seeing how they light up,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when he learned that a Houston public charter school was looking to hire an orchestra director, Herron resisted, at first ignoring his professor\u2019s suggestion to apply. Ultimately he relented\u2014and discovered true joy. \u201cThe first time I got on the podium, the energy flew through me,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was overwhelming. I almost cried. I thought, \u2018Oh my gosh. I want this.\u2019 I\u2019ll never forget that experience. I was just blown away. That\u2019s when I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herron explains that his performance background feeds his role as conductor. \u201cYour study of the score and your interpretation are enhanced,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause the conductor\u2019s job is really to portray what\u2019s not on the page. What\u2019s the character? What\u2019s the color? What\u2019s the story? That\u2019s my job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when the conductor and musicians truly connect, every gesture speaks volumes, Herron says. \u201cThe word itself, \u2018conduct,\u2019 means you\u2019re a conduit of energy. It goes through you. It\u2019s not a dictatorship, but it\u2019s a collaboration. We\u2019re making the music together. That\u2019s why I like to be within the sound and see the players\u2019 eyes up, out of the score. I show them what I want, and if it\u2019s clear and concise and decisive, the musicians understand. It\u2019s organic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this new, allegro con spirito<\/em> era of KU orchestras, all eyes are on Creston Herron and the musicians he inspires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Jackson Sanner, j\u201981, is the former editor of Kansas Alumni magazine, the precursor to Crimson & Blue.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos by Steve Puppe
Rome photos by Fally Afani, School of Music<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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