Director bio

Jonathan Welch is in his eighth year of teaching and is currently in his fourth year as Orchestra Director at Anderson High School as well as Department Chair of Strings Teaching for the Forest Hills Local Schools.  A native of Cincinnati, Jon received a Bachelor of Music from Bowling Green State University and his undergraduate viola teachers included Csaba Erdelyi, Nancy Buck and Howard Bebe.

As a member of the Ohio Music Education Association, Jon has been Assistant Chair of the 2005 District 14 Jr. High Honor Orchestra, attended the 2006 Da Capo Leadership Conference and served as Chair of the 2009 and 2010 OMEA Southwest Region Orchestras which allowed him to collaborate with conductors E. Daniel Long and Dr. Emily Freeman Brown.

As an educator, Jonathan has previously worked as Director of Orchestras at the Winton Woods City Schools, has been counselor with the 2005-2007 OOSTA/ASTA Strings summer camps and in the summer of 2008 he traveled to Australia with the Cincinnati Junior Strings as a viola section coach.

As conductor of the Anderson High School Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Welch’s orchestras have had numerous collaborations with groups such as the Ohio University Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. His Orchestras have also been selected to play at the 2010 OMEA Professional Conference in Cincinnati, at Cincinnati’s Music Hall as pre concert music to a performance of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and received First Runner Up at the 2009 National Orchestra Cup held at Alice Tully Hall in Linclon Center.

Jonathan still remains an active performing violist in the Cincinnati area and is the principal violist of the Cincinnati Community Orchestra.