Our Directors

Mr. Yin-feng Keynes Chen, an award-winning musician, is an active concert violinist, conductor, and music educator.

He began his violin studying at the age of four, entered Chongqing School of the Arts at age 10, then the prestigious Shanghai Music conservatory at age thirteen. Mr. Chen received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Boulder). He was also selected as the first violinist of CU Boulder’s Graduate String Quartet in Residence.

Currently, Mr. Chen holds positions as the Concertmaster of the Boulder Symphony since 2012; the President, violin instructor, Chamber Ensemble Coach at the Flatirons Strings Academy in Boulder, Colorado since 2005; and he is also the Music Director of the Longmont Youth Symphony in Colorado since 2007.

Besides performing regularly during the past many years as a violinist with most of the regional major orchestras, he also was the Executive Director at the A Mid-Summer Day’s Dream summer music camp from 2004-2015; Artistic Director and Chamber Music Director of the Boulder Youth Symphony for five years; Conductor of the Colorado Youth Symphony’s Philharmonia Orchestra for five years; Conductor of the Greater Boulder Youth Orchestra for one year; principal violin instructor at the Englewood Arts for Three years.

In the summer of 2010, Mr. Chen lead a successful youth symphony tour in China for 18 days and visited eight different cities and performed at major concert halls and at many schools in China. In addition to performing concerts there, Mr. Chen was invited to conduct chamber music master classes at the following schools: the famous China Central Music Conservator, Beijing; the prestigious China Music Conservatory, Beijing; and the South-China Normal University, Guangzhou. In recent years Mr. Chen has been frequently invited to conduct lectures and master-classes in various music institutions and schools mostly in Guangzhou and Sichuan provinces in China. Since 2017, Singapore has been added to this list as well.

Mr. Chen has received many prestigious titles and awards through out his musical and educational career. He was awarded as the Artist of the Year of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Multicultural Awards in the Front Range area in 2016; First Prize winner in the 2002 Bruce Ekstrand Music Competition and its Audience’s Award with his former quartet-Nacht Quartet; Performance Teaching Assistant at CU Boulder; winner of both the State and Regional division of the Music Teachers’ National Association Music Competition in 2001; First Prize winner of University of Colorado’s Concerto Competition in 2000; the recipient of the Denés Korómzay Chamber Music Award in 1999.

Jonathan West is a Colorado-based music educator. While growing up in Colorado Springs, Jonathan began playing the cello with the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony Association and the horn in his public school program. 

While studying for a Bachelor of Music Education degree at The University of Northern Colorado, Jonathan took cello lessons from Gal Faganel. As a member of the University Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Russel Guyver, Jonathan played for soloists such as Rachel Barton Pine, Peter Stumpf, and Robert deMaine.

At the outset of his teaching career, Jonathan was a teaching assistant during the inaugural years of the UNC String Project, a weekly after-school program for beginning string students in the fourth and fifth grades. This program helped solidify Jonathan’s love for teaching. Jonathan was featured in an article about the program’s success: “Colorado Teacher Shortage Presents Opportunities For Some Future Educators” by Stephanie Daniel on KUNC.org. As a young conductor, Jonathan was selected for the Colorado Music Educator Association 2019 Conducting Clinic and participated in the master class with Larry Livingston. For the 2021 CMEA conference, Jonathan was invited to speak for a panel session “Mixtures for Success,” discussing how new teachers are surviving teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jonathan is in his 6th year as Director of Orchestras at Creighton Middle School and Lakewood Area Elementary Schools teaching grades 5 through 8. During his time there, his orchestras have received “Excellent” and “Superior” ratings at large group festivals. His students participate in Solo and Ensemble competitions and perform for community organization events like the Lakewood Symphony.  Jonathan is now in his 3rd season as Director of the Longmont Youth Symphony’s ‘Longmont Youth String Ensemble,’ and is Assistant Manager of Camp Con Brio: String Camp of the Rockies, a summer youth orchestra camp. Jonathan has recently judged and cliniced several orchestras for the 2024 Nordic Festival in Poudre Public Schools.

Carrie Borja is the Director of Bands at Westview Middle School, in the St. Vrain Valley School District. Being an active musician in her schools’ ensembles from an early age, she became inspired by the impact music has on young lives and decided to pursue becoming a music educator. She attended the University of Colorado Boulder where she studied French Horn with Michael Thornton, and studied Conducting/Music Education with Dr. Matthew Roeder and Dr. Matthew Dockendorf. 

During her time at CU, Ms. Borja performed with the Symphonic Band, Wind Symphony, Symphony Orchestra, and several brass quintets. She also played in the CU Athletic Bands and the Golden Buffalo Marching Band, where she served two years as a Drum Major. Ms. Borja was the recipient of the Colorado Bandmasters Association’s 2019 Student Teacher Scholarship.  

Ms. Borja has worked with a variety of young ensembles and instrumentalists having served as, a conductor for the Middle School Ensemble program, Band Director at the St. Louis K-8 Catholic School, as the Head Counselor for the CU Middle School Summer Music Academy, and is still actively teaching young French Horn players in the Longmont area. 

As a lifelong learner, Ms. Borja continually pursues opportunities to grow as a teacher, musician, and conductor. She is a member of the National Association of Music Educators, the Colorado Bandmasters Association, regularly attends conferences for professional development, participates in conducting clinics, and performs as a member of the World Youth Wind Orchestra Project in Schladming, Austria. 

Ms. Borja is passionate about motivating youth through a shared connection to music and is inspired by the talent, tenacity, and creativity of young musicians.