This page is to highlight and showcase any of the New Horizons directors. If you have a story or want to express your thanks for the contributions of your director, please forward those articles (with a picture, if possible) to the [Webmaster] of NHIMA.
Salute to Chris Ackerman
Founding Director
OLLI New Horizons Band of Wilmington, North Carolina
CHRISTOFER ACKERMAN was a co-founder of the Wilmington New Horizons concert band in 2007. The band functions in collaboration with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) of the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) and the UNCW Music Department. We number about 50 and we welcome any musician over the age of 50 (although no one really checks!). Chris recruits and works closely with six accomplished UNCW music majors who serve as our section leaders and who rehearse with the sections during the second hour of each weekly session. We give two concerts a year, one a holiday concert in a shopping mall in central Wilmington and a spring concert in the university concert hall in conjunction with a performance by the UNCW Wind Symphony.
Chris has a way of testing the water each semester, knowing what we can handle as a group and pushing us just enough to grow a bit each year that we play together. He focuses very effectively on fundamentals and combines humor and metaphor in making teaching points that are easy to remember and apply.
Chris is an accomplished musician, performer, teacher, and conductor. As a conductor, he has served as guest conductor and clinician for a number of all-county bands and has adjudicated the Eastern District’s Solo/Ensemble Festival as well as the Middle School Band Festival for the North Carolina Bandmasters’ Association. He is currently Trumpet professor and conductor of the Wind Symphony, Chamber Winds, and Pep Band at UNCW. He has studied conducting with Gregg I. Hanson at the University of Arizona and with Mallory Thompson at the Northwestern Conductors’ Symposium. As a trumpet player, Ackerman has maintained a richly diverse musical life that has included solo performances, lead parts in off-Broadway shows, CD recordings, and studio work throughout the United States and the world--from Disneyworld to Germany and Norway. He has played with ensembles including the Chicago Community Orchestra and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, where he played an all John Williams’ concert under the baton of John Williams. Currently, Mr. Ackerman is Principal Trumpet for the Long Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, SC, lead trumpet for the Cape Fear Jazz Orchestra, and plays in the UNCW Faculty Brass Quintet. He received his Bachelors of Music Education, cum laude, from the University of Arizona and his Masters of Music in Performance from Northwestern University.
Having Chris as our director has been the most important factor in bringing instrumental music back into the lives of so many of us, often after a lapse of many years, and making us want to continue to grow and contribute as musicians. We are privileged to have had him as our leader and our inspiration.
Salute to Our New Horizons Band Director, Peter Ziegler
by Iris Othrow
(On behalf of the New Horizons Band members, Madison, Wisconsin)
PETER ZIEGLER is the kind of director that has been perfect for the New Horizons Band in Madison, Wisconsin. When Peter first began directing this group fifteen years ago, he inspired us by giving us music that at first glance appeared to be too difficult for our meager talents. But Peter believed in us and encouraged us without intimidation, and what do you know, with time and practice, we were able to play the music! We were having fun, and folks were beginning to enjoy our concerts! Peter was patient and let everyone play and their best was good enough! My husband, Mike, started taking trombone lessons in 1995. He had never played an instrument and didn’t even know how to read music. Peter welcomed him to sit in with the band and play what he could as he was learning. There were never any negative comments about his errors. Everyone was encouraging. Peter wouldn’t have had it any other way, and with Peter’s instruction, Mike has become a fine trombonist. He encourages everyone to perform to the best of their ability. He’s always available with a compliment or help if you want it. Thank you Peter, for your patience, sense of humor, encouragement, and for your joy in making music with us!
You may have encountered Peter Ziegler and his wife, Cheryl, at various band camps. Peter and Cheryl have a son Jon, daughter-in-law Allison, daughter Elizabeth, son-in-law Scott, and two-year-old grandson John.
Peter continues to be an associate director of the New Horizons Band and the New Horizons Swing Band, both of Madison, Wisconsin. He teaches music to “home schooled” students, teaches band at Central Montessori in Madison and gives private lessons through Ward-Brodt Music Mall. His hobbies, besides playing the trombone, include snowboarding, snow shoeing, mountain climbing, and activities at his church.
Peter Ziegler was the band and orchestra director at Blackhawk Middle School in Madison for thirty-five years. He is a recipient of the University of Wisconsin’s Distinguished Teacher of Teachers award and has been associated with Ward-Brodt Music Mall as a teacher and director for fifteen years.
We love you and salute your accomplishments!
All your New Horizons Friends
Copyright © 2004-10 NHIMA. Web Site by Allegro Web Designs.