Ron Warren

Ron Warren is associate professor in theory and composition at Washington Adventist University, where he has taught since 1990. A native of Maryland, he is an award winning composer/arranger as well as a performer on keyboards and Native American flutes. His works have been heard in important venues throughout the United States and Europe and he has been praised by The Washington Post for his "pensively evocative music" and "expressive and highly energetic" performances.

Warren's creative efforts have enjoyed the support of numerous organizations and ensembles, including the American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, Inc.; The Atlantic Center for the Arts; and the Contemporary Music Forum. He has also frequently served as musical arranger for Interact Theater Company’s award winning summer productions at the Folger Theater in Washington D.C. He has been heard on NPR, the History Channel, and on other programs.

After many years of listening to Native American music and attending powwows, Warren, an Echota Cherokee, began learning Native American flute at the turn of the century, wanting to honor his father’s ancestors and to continue to learn more about their traditions. He has appeared as a guest performer on the flute with Jeff Ball at the Kennedy Center and at Musical Echoes in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, as well as in a concert and educational program at the Stone Ridge School in Bethesda, Maryland. The latter was taped for overseas broadcast by the Voice of America.

Additionally, he has performed as a soloist and with his band, Taiowe, at the Inter-American Development Cultural Center, the Stone Ridge School for “Voice of America,” the National Museum of the American Indian, the Bangladesh Drishtipat DC festival, Flute Quest Seattle, world music programs, and other events nationwide. He has received several Native American Music Award nominations and an Artist Award from Maryland.

Warren received a B.A. in music from Blufton College and an M.Mus. at Bowling Green State University. He has a D.M.A. from the University of Maryland, where he was a Doctoral Research Fellow for three years.

Warren's CDs include Heartbeats of the Forest World; Dancing the Full Moon; Morning Star, Evening Star; Red Moon, and River and Circle. Heartbeats of the Forest World, a CD released in 2003, featured music for Native American flutes, with guest artists Alejandro Lucini, percussion, and Brian Kooken, guitar.

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Sources: Washington Adventist University and Ron Warren websites; other online sources.