Lucy Colwell

Lucy Colwell, conductor and hornist has been teaching music in Central Mass’ Tantasqua District since 1996. A graduate of Tantasqua, she has a deep sense of pride and connection to the Tantasqua communities. After a 25 year career with the school district, Lucy took a leap to become the instrumental  director at Tantasqua’s Burgess Elementary  school in Sturbridge, MA.  Mrs. Colwell is the conductor of the Worcester Youth Wind Ensemble and is also the horn instructor at the Joy of Music Program in Worcester. Over the course of her teaching career she has also held positions as the instrumental director at Wales Elementary and Tantasqua High School.

Lucy started her instrumental career playing the glockenspiel (really) in the Burgess Elementary Band and later switched to the French Horn in the 7th grade. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA and spent two years as a graduate student at North Texas State University in Denton, TX. In 1994 Mrs. Colwell earned an Artist Diploma from the Hart School of Music Hartford, CT and in 2002 received a Master of Arts Degree from Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, MA. Her extensive horn studies were under the tutelage of David Jolley, Dr. William Scharnberg, Gregory Hustis, Dr. David Cottrell and Laura Klock.

While at the Hartt School, Lucy had the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall under the direction of composer, John Rutter and a more recent performance with the Worcester Chorus. Lucy has also performed for artists such as Dionne Warwick, James Ingram, Lorrie Morgan, John Tesch, Clay Aiken the Irish Tenors and Leslie Odom Jr.

An active free-lance musician around New England she has been the principal horn with the Thayer Symphony Orchestra in Fitchburg MA since 1994, and a substitute for the Hartford Symphony for the past several years. She is also a current member of New England Repertory Orchestra, Worcester Winds, Bombyx Brass Collective and the Valley Winds. Lucy enjoys performing with brass quintets, other small ensembles, and in pit orchestras for musical theater productions.  Lucy has been a guest conductor for the Seven Hills Symphony, Old Post Road Orchestra, a community organization serving Western MA and the Quabbin Community Band, in Barre Massachusetts.   

Lucy is a member of the National Association for Music Education, Massachusetts Music Educators Association, and the Quabbin Valley Music Educators Association.  She is a member of the Local Musicians Union.  In 2018 Mrs. Colwell was named the Massachusetts recipient of the “50 Directors Who Make a Difference” which is annually awarded by the National School Band and Orchestra publication.