Dr. Colleen Ferguson is an active performer and teacher of violin, viola, and orchestral conducting. She holds both a Bachelor’s (2002) and a Master’s (2004) degree in Music Education from The University of Texas at Austin, where she was also a faculty member of the UT Austin String Project. Subsequently, Dr. Ferguson earned both an MM (2012) and DMA (2015) in Violin Performance from the University of Iowa. An enthusiastic teacher of students of all ages, Dr. Ferguson taught general music and orchestra in the El Paso, TX public schools, served as the Graduate Teaching Assistant in Violin at the University of Iowa, and taught applied violin and viola at the West Music Conservatory in Coralville, Iowa.
An experienced string performer, pedagogue and orchestral conductor, Dr. Ferguson works with both string and symphony orchestras performing repertoire from all periods and genres. She formerly served as Lecturer of violin and viola at Eastern Kentucky University, where she also directed the university’s String Chamber Orchestra. Recently, she served as Assistant Professor of Music (violin/viola) and Symphony Orchestra director at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Under Ferguson’s direction, the IUP Symphony Orchestra presented sold-out performances of Steven Sondheim’s Sweeny Todd and performed a full season of concerts featuring masterworks by composers including Ravel, Stravinsky, Debussy, Copland, Rimsky-Korsakov and Vaughan-Williams.
Dr. Ferguson often performs as an orchestral and chamber musician and has played professionally as a member of several orchestras including the El Paso Symphony (TX), Las Cruces Symphony (NM), Ottumwa Symphony (IA), Orchestra Iowa (IA), and Johnstown Symphony (PA). Additionally, Ferguson has played in the orchestras of Mannheim Steamroller and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She has been an active participant at several international music festivals throughout Europe including festivals in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia.
Dr. Ferguson regularly presents educational sessions across the United States at national conferences including the annual American String Teachers Association National Conference, the National Association for Music Education Annual Conference, and the Biennial Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference. Also, Dr. Ferguson is regularly invited as a guest artist/lecturer/master teacher at various educational institutions throughout the USA including the University of Minnesota at Morris, Cornell College, The University of Texas at El Paso, the Loma Linda Academy and Florida Southern College.
Dr. Ferguson enjoys performing as a violin soloist and has a particular interest in the music of British composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She has performed solo violin recitals at St. Stephen’s Church in Dublin, Ireland (2016), at the Imperial College in London, England (2018), and recently appeared in a joint recital of British music for violin and piano in October 2019 in Birmingham, UK. In 2019 she performed as a member of the Litton Piano Trio and their 2019 program featured a rare USA performance of Charles Stanford’s Piano Trio No. 2 in G minor. Dr. Ferguson has also edited several pieces of music and her critical performance edition of Charles Stanford’s Fourth String Quartet was used in a commercial recording project featuring the Dante String Quartet. SOMM Recordings released this album in September 2018. Dr. Ferguson is currently Assistant Professor of Strings and Orchestra at Texas A&M University Kingsville and currently serves as Artistic Director/Conductor of the Kingsville Symphony Orchestra.
