Pioneer High School Symphony Orchestra

Performer Details

Performer Bio Synopsis

The Pioneer Symphony Orchestra is a select group of string, wind, and percussion players who perform a diverse and challenging selection of orchestral literature. This ensemble rehearses as a string orchestra three days each week, and is joined by wind, brass, and percussion students from the Symphony Band for full orchestra rehearsals twice a week at the conclusion of marching season. All students must audition for membership in this ensemble. The Symphony Orchestra appears in concerts and festivals throughout the year, many of which are outside of school hours, and regularly brings in professional guest musicians to work with the students. The group travels both Nationally and Internationally on a regular basis. The Pioneer Symphony Orchestra has a well established reputation of excellence at not only the local level, but also at the State, National, and International levels.

Pioneer High School Symphony Orchestra

Conductor's Bio

Jonathan Glawe (from Waterloo, Iowa) is currently the Director of Orchestras at GRAMMY award-winning Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Kansas and a Masters Degree in Music Education from the University of Oregon. Prior to his time in Oregon, Glawe taught in the Darien Public Schools in Darien, Connecticut. Glawe has studied conducting with the Robert Ponto, Wayne Bennett, Michael Adelson, and has recently worked via outreach with Kevin Noe. As a clinician, Glawe has presented clinics on a wide variety of topics all over the country. Some of these include an “Alternative Styles Pre-Conference Panel Discussion” for National ASTA in Atlanta in 2009 and 2 clinic panels for National ASTA in 2011 on the topics of “Effective Use of Student Leadership” and “Alternative Styles Curricula.” In 2013, Glawe presented a solo clinic entitled: "From a Classical Power House to an Eclectic Curriculum: Trials and Tribulations of High School Orchestra Programs in Transition" at the National ASTA Conference in Providence, RI. Glawe was invited to represent the United States in a symposium for Music Education in Stockholm, Sweden in 2016, at which he co-presented on the history of music education in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and was a part of a panel discussion on the current state of music education. Glawe has also done a wide variety of guest conducting appearances with youth ensembles in and around Michigan, Illinois and Iowa, and will be conducting the California All State String Orchestra in February 2018. Currently in his tenth year at Pioneer High School, Glawe has played an important role in the their return to the GRAMMY Signature School list, in which the Pioneer Music Department was honored as one of the top 3 music programs in the nation in 2010 and 2015, and earned the honor of being the National GRAMMY Signature School in 2011. In his time at Pioneer, he has successful taken his ensembles to perform in New York City in 2009, Austria and Germany in 2011, San Francisco in 2013, Italy in 2015, and New Orleans in 2017. Glawe is the director and founder of the yearly Pioneer orchestra camp that takes place each August on the campus of Interlochen Center for the Arts. In his time at Pioneer, Glawe has coached the Pioneer orchestras to a wide variety of successes in technique and performance in the classical setting while enhancing the orchestra curriculum with his knowledge of eclectic string styles. He has done this while aiming to maintain and further develop the high quality of classical musicianship that Pioneer has traditionally been known for. Glawe was recognized as MSBOA District 12 Orchestra Director of the Year in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He was a finalist for the Michigan Orchestra Director of the Year in 2012. Glawe happily resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife and violinist, Rebecca Hunter, who is runs a large Suzuki studio, and is a licensed Andover Educator.