Zina Richardson
Music Director / Conductor, Boulder Concert Band

Zina Richardson, Founder and Conductor of the Denver Pops Orchestra (aslo known as the Mostly Strauss Orchestra), has been directing community orchestra programs in the Denver area for over thirty years. Much in demand as a conductor, clinician, performer, and adjudicator, she holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Tulsa and a Master of Music Education with emphasis on conducting from the University of Colorado. She recently retired from teaching music in the Boulder Valley School District, where she served as Superviser of the Instrumental Music Council for six years.

While her primary expertise is in instrumental music, her interests have led her to teach chorus and classical guitar as well. She has studied with great consductors as Antonia Brico, Brian Priestman, Elizabeth Green, Jonathan Ebersole, and Alan McMurray. She has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Rocky Mountain Symphony (Lakewood Symphony), Associate Conductor of the Brico Symphony (Denver Philharmonic), the Aurora Symphony, the Littleton Chorale, and has been guest conductor for many other groups including the Timberline Orchestra, Boulder Concert Band, Great River Symphony of Wisconsin, the American Symphony Orchestra, as well as many Honor Bands and Orchestras throughout Colorado.

She has been active with the Colorado Music Educators as an adjudicator and has led many sessions at the annual CMEA convention, and annually directs the reading session for new orchestra music. She is a member of the Conductors Guild, American Symphony Orchestra League, SAI Alumnae and Phi Beta Mu, Honary Band Directors Fraternity.