About Mr. Ostwald

Mr. Ostwald's "Welcome Back" August, 2020 Video: https://youtu.be/9Q423fCBXfg

Ray Ostwald is in his twenty-fifth year directing the orchestras, teaching conducting and coaching chamber music at York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He holds degrees from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mr. Ostwald has served on the faculties of School District U-46, Illinois Summer Youth Music (ISYM) at the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin Summer Music Clinic, OPUS Chamber Music Camp and the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, and has conducted the Elgin Youth Symphony String Orchestra and the West Suburban Youth Sinfonia. Guest conducting and clinician appearances include the Ecuador National Symphony Orchestra of Quito, the Korean International Music Educators Honors Festival in Seoul, the Cotopaxi International School of Quito, Ecuador, the Clark County Honors Orchestra of Las Vegas, the Indiana ASTA Orchestra Festival at Ball State, the Northwest Symphony of Chicago, the Northeast Iowa Regional Honors Orchestra, the Dubuque String Festival, the ASTA National Orchestra Festival in Albuquerque, ILMEA District III Senior Orchestra, the ILMEA District III and IX Junior Orchestras, the Fox Valley Festival Orchestra, the District 211 High School Honors Orchestra, the Badger Conference Honors Orchestra of Wisconsin, the Glenbard District 87 Honors Orchestra, the District 300 Orchestra Festival, the Libertyville District 128 Orchestra Festival, the University of Illinois Middle School Consortium, the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra and numerous other regional and festival orchestras. Mr. Ostwald received the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestras' Educator of the Year award in 1991 and 2002, the Quinlan & Fabish Chicagoland Outstanding Educator Award in 2017 and the Illinois American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Orchestra Teacher of the Year award in 2019. Mr. Ostwald is active as a violinist and violist in chamber music and orchestral performance, performing with the Heidenheim String Quartet, Solisti Di Camera String Quartet and Artistrings of Chicago. He has performed on stage supporting tours of the Moody Blues, The Who, Dennis DeYoung (of Styx), Bernadette Peters, Bob Hope, Anne Murray, Barry Manilow, Josh Groban, Richard Marx, Lena Hall, Celtic Woman and Weird Al Yankovic. He performs in the orchestra on the PBS Special "I Am Ireland" featuring tenor Paddy Homan, scheduled for release later in 2020. He has published a number of arrangements for string orchestra and for brass ensembles. A member of the American String Teachers Association, National Association for Music Education, the American Federation of Musicians and the Conductors’ Guild, Mr. Ostwald is a founding member of the Illinois Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (ILCMP) committee. Mr. Ostwald has presented lectures at several conferences and teacher institutes, and taught a summer symposium graduate course for string teachers at the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago for four years. Professional publications include contributions to Volumes I and II of Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra, as well as to The String Teacher’s Cookbook: Creative Recipes for a Successful Program. Mr. Ostwald has hosted twenty-one student teachers from eight universities and been a guest lecturer to music education students at Northwestern University, DePaul University, Roosevelt University, Lawrence University, North Central College and Concordia University. He enjoys motorcycling, and has done so in 49 states and seven countries.

Mr. Ostwald's YouTube channel ("Ray Ostwald Music") for scale, warm-up, chorale and other videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8Buh8JuFeKwo4VZuift4w