Symphony Staff
Sylvia Bowen, Operations Manager & Music Librarian
Brad Furlow, Marketing & Promotions Manager
David Claiborne, Personnel Manager
Kurt Harris, Stage & Production Manager
Norman Gamboa, Music Director
conductor@aurorasymphony.org
Amanda Drazin, Community Member
Bachelor of Arts in English – Texas Tech University
Master of Public Administration – University of Colorado Denver
Music has been an integral part of Amanda’s life since her first musical theater performance at age 6. Being able to share the beauty and benefits of musical performance to the community is a privilege and a delight. A musician herself, Amanda has performed with a variety of community choral groups over the years, most recently the Colorado Women’s Chorale, and continues to study privately to improve her skills. Amanda is also active in the community, having volunteered for a number of organizations as well as serving on the Board of a small nonprofit organization dedicated to helping very small nonprofits in the Denver area develop infrastructure for their operations.
Amanda brings 25 years of experience in nonprofit administration, health research, and operations management to the Aurora Symphony Orchestra Board. Her experience began as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer after college, working with young people affected by domestic violence. In this position, she was also introduced to grant writing, program budgeting, and award management, particularly as relating to small-budget nonprofits. The lessons learned from her mentor at that time has formed the undercurrent of her professional career. Since then, Amanda has worked in a variety of research programs and divisions at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is currently a Program Director for a health policy research division where she manages research proposals from submission to
closeout as well as directing overall administrative operations for the division.
Mike Kachline, Treasuer, Musician Representative
Kyle Rupley, Vice Chair, Community Member
Greg V. Hopkins, Community Member
Mike Kachline is an active member of the ASO, playing trumpet. Professionally, Mike has over twenty years writing software and managing software development groups. Musically, Mike has been playing trumpet for over thirty years. Mike studied under Larry Black (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) , and has played in various community groups, including the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra as well as the Oklahoma City Symphonic Band.
Norman Gamboa, Music Director, Ex Officio Member
Bachelor of Music in Music Education - Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Principal Tuba - Aurora Symphony Orchestra & Denver Concert Band
Music Educator – Douglas County Public Schools
Private Music Educator – Pirisen Music Lessons
BS in Computer Science, Georgia Tech
Karlotta M. Davis, MD - Board Chair
Greg was a Municipal Judge of the City of Aurora from 1978 to 2016. Serving previously on the Aurora Library Board and the D.A.R.E Board, enjoys and supports classical music, especially chamber music. Greg has four sons, and two daughters-in-law.
Gamboa is considered one of the most interesting up-and-coming Latin American conductors of the new generation. His numerous guest conducting appearances have included symphony orchestras throughout Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Minnesota, California, and Nevada. A versatile conductor, equally at home with opera, ballet, chamber and symphonic orchestral repertoire, Norman Gamboa has conducted a large variety of innovative joint ventures, including newly choreographed productions of Ravel's Ma mère l'Oye with Ballet Midwest, The Nutcracker Ballet with the Santa Rosa Dance Theater and the Aurora Dance Arts, La Fiesta Mexicana by Owen-Reed with Fiesta Colorado Dance Company, as well as several successful fully-staged operas with the Topeka Opera Society and Opera on Tap Colorado.
A native of rural Southern Illinois, Brad began studying music as a young child. Through elementary and secondary education, instrumental music was very important to all aspects of his education. He attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale as a Music Education & Music Theory / Composition student, where he excelled in instrumental pedagogy and marching arts techniques. Brad graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education, at which time he served as Director of Bands for Vandalia Community High School before moving to Colorado in 2004. Since arriving in Colorado, Brad diversified his background by working with multiple corporations as an educational consultant and information management specialist before returning to performing and teaching music full-time.
Bradley Furlow, Musician Representative
I studied flute performance seriously through college, however the academic rigors of medical school left no time for practice. I was unwilling to perform without practicing regularly, and did not play/perform for 30 years. I found my way back to music in 2008 and have been studying privately since. I have attended the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Academy yearly since 2011, and Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp since 2010. After substituting on piccolo for one season with the ASO, I auditioned and was awarded the piccolo chair in 2015. After a 35 year career in obstetrics and gynecology, being recognized as a “top doc” in 5280 magazine for 6 years, and 24 years at University of Colorado, I retired in 2017. Currently, I am studying music theory at Metropolitan State University Denver.
Music Director, Aurora Symphony Orchestra
Music Director, Sonoma County Philharmonic
DMA Orchestral Conducting - Louisiana State University
MM Orchestral Conducting - University of Nevada - Las Vegas
BA Music Performance - Baylor University
Music Education Diploma - Conservatorio de Castella, Costa Rica
B.A. - Rutgers University, 1968
J.D. - Rutgers University, 1971
Bar Admissions: New Jersey & Colorado
Memberships: Colorado & Aurora Bar, American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science
2020-2021 Board of Directors
The Aurora Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors are enthusiastic members of the community who share the passion, vision and commitment for music and the arts in Aurora. With their guidance and dedication we ensure a continuous positive future for the ASO.
Bachelors: Metropolitan State , BM, BME - Viola and Music Education
Masters: University of Denver, MM - Viola
Career: Music Educator - Cherokee Trail High School, in Aurora’s Cherry Creek School District
Kyle Rupley is a Colorado based musician and educator. He has maintained a private studio teaching violin and viola for almost twenty years and taught in public education for nine years at Cherokee Trail High School, in Aurora’s Cherry Creek School District. In addition to his teaching duties at CT, Kyle also serves as an Association Representative for the Cherry Creek Education Association, and he was Chair of the Colorado All State Orchestra Board of Governors for 2016-2017.
He began his orchestral training in the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony and Denver Young Artists Orchestra. For post-graduate work, Kyle was a two-year recipient (2015, 2016) of an Andrew Mellon Foundation Fellowship to study orchestral conducting and performance in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Academy Program. Still an avid performer, he regularly plays with ensembles all along the Front Range including the Stratus Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, and the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, among others. Kyle lives in Aurora, Colorado, and in his free time enjoys our great outdoors, hitting the gym, reading philosophy, and enjoying life with his family and friends.
Professor Emerita of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology Univ. of Colorado School of Medicine
BA Kalamazoo College
MD University of Michigan
MPH Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health