Ethan McGraw is many things across many different disciplines. To his music colleagues he is a percussionist, composer, and educator dedicated to spreading the love of music to all listeners. To his coworkers in music-production he is a hard-working member of the team prepared to do whatever is necessary to make the best show possible for the performers he’s working for. In his spare time he also studies Japanese and enjoys the act of amateur translation.
As a musician, he is studying at the Lamont School of Music and is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Music. Ethan regularly performs in the Lamont School of Music Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, and Steel Drum Ensembles. He also occasionally performs with the Arapahoe Philharmonic Orchestra and has recorded with Jeremy Mock on his yet-to-be-released EP. Ethan is a student of John Kinzie (Principal Percussionist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra) and Tom Miller (Director of the Lamont Steel Drum Ensemble). He also has teaching experience working with the Aurora HS Honor Band & Orchestra Percussionists in Aurora, CO, and coaching the Centennial HS Drumline and Front Ensemble in Las Vegas, NV.
As a Stage Manager, Ethan has spent the last two years working as a member of the Lamont School of Music’s stage production team. He regularly runs student led programs and has garnered a reputation as the go to stage manager for student recitals, which in part led to his promotion to Lead Student Stage Technician in 2021. He has also proven himself competent in larger venues running events in the Gates Concert Hall in the Newman Center for the Performing Arts alongside Production Manager Maddy Kuhl. This has led to interest in him in the Denver production scene, offers to work production in several of Denver’s concert venues. This summer he will be working on the stage crew for the Denver Botanic Garden’s Summer Concert Series, as a back of house intern with Denver City Park Jazz, and as production manager for the Lamont Summer Academy.
In addition to music, Ethan is also a student of the Japanese language. He has spent the past 5 years studying and achieving an intermediate level of fluency and has translated small articles such as the program notes for City Girl Sentimentalism by Shuhei Tamura. He is expected to graduate in 2024 with a secondary major in Language, Literatures, & Cultures with a concentration in Japanese.