Faculty | Colorado Mesa University

Jonathan Hinkle, Ph.D.

Moss Performing Arts Center 133
970.248.1325 (o)
[email protected]

Dr. Jonathan Hinkle

Professor of Music & Director of Bands

Director of Rowdy Brass Band, Wind Symphony, & Wind Ensemble

Jonathan Hinkle is Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Colorado Mesa University, where he oversees a comprehensive band program that includes the Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Concert Band, Rowdy Brass Band, Mesa Brass Band, the Maverick Stampede Marching Band, and the annual Best of the West Festival. A member of the CMU music faculty since 2012, when he was appointed the university’s first Associate Director of Bands, he founded the marching band program and led its growth to more than 150 members within its first four seasons. In 2016, the ensemble began rehearsing in its dedicated facility, the Stampede Center. From this leadership, the CMU band program has experienced tremendous growth, leading to an increase in both music majors and faculty positions in the music department.

That same year, Dr. Hinkle founded the Rowdy Brass Band, a progressive commercial ensemble now in high demand for professional engagements, performing 30–40 shows annually. The group was most recently featured as a headline act at the 2026 Denver City Jazz Festival.

Dr. Hinkle teaches conducting and applied trumpet and maintains an active national profile as a clinician, adjudicator, and honor band conductor, including most recently serving as conductor of the 2026 Wyoming All-State Band. Prior to joining CMU, he was a public school band and orchestra director in Florida, where he led award-winning programs to performances at the Midwest Clinic and the Bands of America National Concert Band Invitational.

He holds a PhD in Music Education from Florida State University and served as principal trumpet in the university’s premier ensembles. His extensive performance background spans orchestral, jazz, and commercial settings, including appointments as a lead trumpeter at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando and with Orchestra Mia in Fort Lauderdale.

Kirsten Hooogstraten Rivera

Moss Performing Arts Center
970.248.1163 (o)
[email protected]

Kirsten Hoogstraten Rivera

Associate Director of Bands

Director of the Maverick Stampede and Maverick Sound

Prior to her appointment at Colorado Mesa University, Hoogstraten was the interim Assistant Director of Bands at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she assisted with the Golden Buffalo Marching Band, directed the Concert Band, and taught Marching Band Techniques. She also directed the Buff Pep Band at volleyball and basketball games, traveling with the ensemble to the Big XII and NCAA basketball tournaments. Prior to graduating with her doctorate, Hoogstraten was a graduate teaching assistant with the Texas Tech Bands, where she guest-conducted the TTU Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and Concert Band, and, along with her colleagues, conducted the TTU University Band and assisted with the college’s undergraduate conducting classes. Hoogstraten was also heavily involved with the athletic bands at TTU, writing drill for and conducting the Goin’ Band from Raiderland and directing the Court Jesters Basketball Band. Previously, Hoogstraten taught band for three years in St. Marys, Kansas, one year in Northbrookfield, Massachusetts, and two years with Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida.

Hoogstraten has presented sessions at the International Tuba Euphonium Conference (2023 and 2024) and performed and presented at the National Conference of Percussion Pedagogy (2025 and 2026). She actively arranges for chamber winds, tuba/euphonium ensemble, and athletic bands. Hoogstraten graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting from Texas Tech University. She earned a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Kansas and a Master of Arts in instrumental conducting from the University of Central Florida. Her primary conducting teachers were Sarah McKoin, Scott Lubaroff, and John Lynch. Her doctoral project was a transcription of Caroline Shaw’s “Plan & Elevation” for chamber winds and percussion.