The Arapahoe

Steve Asheim, retired as director of bands at Heritage High School of Littleton, Colorado in 2002. He was a graduate of Western State College of Colorado and received his Masters Degree from the University of Northern Colorado. He taught public school music for 31 years; six in the Northglenn School District and twenty five at Heritage High School.

In 1984-85 he taught in the Borough of Waltham Forest as a peripatetic brass specialist. During that school year he conducted one of the wind bands, the district jazz ensemble, and started a percussion ensemble. He also performed regularly with the Chris Holmes Brass Ensemble of London. He has been guest conductor of twenty-five Colorado league honor bands and served as conductor of the 1987 Colorado All-State Jazz Ensemble. He conducted the Rocky Mountain Brassworks British Brass Band for 13 years. He also conducted the Denver El Jebel Shrine Band for two years. He was appointed conductor of the WSC - Colorado Brass Band in 2005.

Of the large number of performances Steve has conducted, the most significant was his combined orchestra and chorus in two performances at the famous "Carnegie Hall", one on Easter 1988 and one on Easter 1994. The concert in 1988 was reviewed in the New York Times by Allan Kozinn. He said "The Heritage Ensemble's offerings were largely of an outgoing, festive nature - psalm settings by Bruckner and Whear and splashy potboilers by Nelson and Friedemann - performed with remarkable energy and considerable polish."

He received the 1997-98 Colorado IAJE Jazz Educator of the Year Award. In 1983 he received the Colorado Bandmasters Hall of Fame Award and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Western State College. In 1990, he was a finalist for the Colorado Department of Educations' Colorado Teacher of the Year Award and in 1991 was awarded the prestigious National Educator Award from the Milken Family Foundation. He also has received the 1997-98 Colorado IAJE Jazz Educator of the Year.