Spokane Youth Orchestra: Conductor

Verne Windham was the principal horn for the Spokane Symphony Orchestra for seventeen years. Since then, his voice has become familiar over the airwaves in his capacity as Music and Arts Director for KPBX, Spokane Public Radio. During his long musical career, Verne has had a full history as a conductor. In the 1960s, he was conducting baroque and contemporary works in Rochester and New York City. The next decade, he conducted student and faculty ensembles while teaching horn at Washington State University. In the 1980s, he spent a season conducting the Spokane Symphony on its educational tours, and then returned to his first love, choral conducting, as choir director at Westminster Congregational United Church of Christ. He has also conducted productions for Spokane Opera and the Spokane Ballet, was founding member of the Zelenka Quintet of New York, the Spokane Falls Brass Band and The Solstice Wind Quintet. In 1993, Verne was named Spokane Arts Commission’s Individual Artist of the Year.