Ava Ordman, SMTD Alumni Hall of Fame Awardee

Trombonist Ava Ordman presents a lecture in recognition of her 2023 SMTD Alumni Hall of Fame Award. Her lecture addresses the fear of taking risks and detours from one’s path to seeking self discovery and purpose. Free and open to the public.

GUEST BIO

AVA ORDMAN (BM & MM ’75, trombone) served for 24 years as principal trombone with the Grand Rapids Symphony – a job she attained at age 19. At age 41, Ordman returned to school to pursue a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Western Michigan University. In 1997, she began her work as a psychologist while subbing with the Detroit Symphony and Detroit Opera orchestras and teaching low brass at Oakland University. In 2002, Ordman was appointed professor of trombone at Michigan State University. She is principal trombone of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Orchestra, and she performs with the Monarch Brass, the flagship brass ensemble of the International Women’s Brass Conference.

Ordman played her solo debut at Carnegie Hall in 1990 with the American Symphony and has been a featured artist at numerous festivals and conferences. She performed the world premieres of Steven Smith’s Trombone Concerto with the Eugene Symphony and Libby Larsen’s Mary Cassatt with the Grand Rapids Symphony; both works were written for Ordman. Ordman’s most recent venture was leading a consortium to commission a new trombone concerto by David Biedenbender; Their Eyes Are Fireflies received its world premiere in 2018 with the MSU Wind Symphony. Ordman released a solo CD in 2017, It’s About Time: Music for Trombone by Women Composers. In 2018, she was named the recipient of the Neill Humfeld Award for Excellence in Trombone Teaching by the International Trombone Association.