Young musicians perform best when they are led with positivity, enthusiasm, and a tad of humor. Few college conductors these days can match the sheer joy and exuberance that Creston Herron has brought to the orchestra programs at The University of Kansas since his arrival in 2023. In just two and a half years as director of orchestral activities, Creston has brought the program to new levels: Participation has risen from just over 100 to nearly 200 musicians, artistic levels are consistently strong, and the two existing ensembles have been supplemented with a third, professional-level group—Prairie Fire Chamber Orchestra—that Creston formed during his second year.
He came to KU by way of Texas, where he earned national recognition as an educator, conductor, and orchestral musician. Creston was director of fine arts for the Klein Independent School District, conductor of the Campanile Orchestra at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and director of orchestras at both Klein High School and YES Prep. He has conducted regional and all-state ensembles in nearly a dozen states and has reaped numerous awards, and during the summers is coordinator of orchestras at the world-renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan.
His arrival in Kansas was a homecoming for Creston, as he grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, and attended Eugene Ware Elementary School, Eisenhower Middle School, and Sumner Academy of Arts and Science. Raised in a family steeped in music, he found that fundamentals came easily: His mother was a violinist (and still is) and herself grew up in an environment in which classical music was a given. He and his three younger siblings all played a stringed instrument.
“It wasn’t a question of if you were going to play an instrument, it was which instrument you were going to play,” Creston said. For his part, he had fallen in love with the violin quite young, listening to his great-grandfather play. “I remember wanting to play his violin and he would tell me, ‘Creston, you can play it when you practice and you get good enough to do it.’ So I decided I’ve got to practice.”
By middle school was good enough to audition for Tiberius Klausner, who accepted him as a student. “That changed the trajectory of my musical career,” Creston said. “I owe so much to that man.” Klausner was sort of the Father of the Violin in Kansas City—a beloved community member, a renowned UMKC Conservatory professor, and a longtime concertmaster of the Kansas City Philharmonic and, later, the Kansas City Symphony. Creston advanced quickly on the violin, eventually earning his bachelor of music at KU.
Creston did not yet imagine himself a conductor, but at one point Paul Tucker, KU’s director of choral activities, said to him: “Creston, you’ll need to keep a baton in your violin case, because you never know when you’ll need to conduct.” That proved to be prophetic. Moving to Texas for graduate studies, Creston earned his master of music in violin at Rice University, where he studied with Ken Goldsmith and Eric Halen, and a master of education in school leadership at Sam Houston State University.
Just as important, during this period Creston began to be mentored by the late Larry Rachleff, Rice University’s legendary conducting professor, who died in 2022 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “He had so much belief and faith in me,” Creston said of Larry, who evidently saw a spark in the young man. “He would even come and work with me when I taught in high schools.” Also working with Don Schleicher (now at Northwestern University) and others, Creston found that he had caught the “conducting bug.”
“The first time I got on the podium, the energy flew through me, it was overwhelming,” he told a reporter for Kansas Alumni Magazine last year. “I was blown away. That’s when I knew.” It was also in Texas that Creston met his wife, fellow conductor Dawn, who today is an award-winning director of orchestras at Lawrence Free State High School and who also serves on the Interlochen faculty. They now have three children and live very busy lives.
Among Creston’s duties are to direct the KU Symphony Orchestra (primarily for music majors) and the KU Philharmonic Orchestra (a group for non-majors, faculty, staff, and community members). In 2024 he established Prairie Fire from KU’s best string players; its first recording, with music by Libby Larsen and others, was just released by The Post Haus. (See review on these pages.)
Creston has brought new verve to the KU Symphony Orchestra, but he also attaches great importance to the Philharmonic Orchestra—as a means of spreading the joy of music to those who might go on to non-musical careers but will continue to play.
“It’s wonderful to help sponsor the next musical ambassadors,” he said. “The engineers who may start their own companies … the lawyers, the doctors, the architects. Maybe they didn’t want to practice 20 hours a week toward a music career, but they love music. They’re the ones who will be buying season tickets to concerts—and maybe one day they’ll also donate. … That’s why ensembles like this are crucial for the future.”
—By Paul Horsley
On April 15th at the Lied Center of Kansas, Creston leads the KU Symphony Orchestra in a concert of Rachmaninoff and Mahler (the Symphony No. 1). For tickets call 785-864-2787 or go to lied.ku.edu/event/symphony-15apr2026. To reach Paul Horsley, performing arts editor, send an email to paul@kcindependent.com or find him on Facebook (paul.horsley.paul.horsley.105484) or X/Instagram (@phorsleycritic).
