Meet the Leadership
LARRY HEIDEL, Executive Director
Larry has been Executive Director of Saratoga Orchestra since 2012 and a trombonist with the orchestra since its founding in 2007. A freelance musician in Seattle, he also performs with other ensemebles such as the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, Philharmonia Northwest, and Everett Philharmonic.
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He holds a music degree from the University of Montana and a Master’s in Performance from Northwestern University, where he studied under Chicago Symphony legend Frank Crisafulli. While in Chicago, he worked at Carl Fischer Music Publishing, developing a love for quirky customer requests like “Furry Lice” (Für Elise).
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Larry pursued postgraduate studies at NYU in Arts and Entertainment Management and worked in theatrical and special event production before spending a decade at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, CA. There, he contributed to the animated classic, Disney’s Dinosaur, and managed over 100 DVD and VHS releases of Disney/Pixar films in 40 languages.
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He also oversees production aspects for Symphonic Plays™, which develops orchestral theatrical shows for major U.S. symphonies.
Outside of music, Larry co-manages From Common Hands Studio with his husband, Paul McClintock, creating 18th-century reproduction books and props for major historical sites museums and film/television.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS​​
Erica Montgomery, President​
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Erica Montgomery moved to the Whidbey Island, WA in 2018 after a completing a distinctive 20 year career with the United States Air Force Band, Washington DC. While in DC she rose through the ranks, serving as section Percussionist, Principal Percussionist, and finally retiring as Principal Timpanist, a chair she held for 12 years. Erica is honored to have achieved the rank of Chief Master Sergeant, as well as being the first female Principal Percussionist & Timpanist of the USAF Band.
She has served as Principal Timpanist with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Illinois Symphony. An active freelance musician she has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Brass Band of Battle Creek, Monarch Brass, Brass of the Potomac, Evansville Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Locally she is an active member of Whidbey’s Saratoga Orchestra, Skagit Symphony and a founding member of Whidbey “Rhythms of Nature” Earth Day concert series.
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Erica earned a B.M. performance degree from the University of Illinois where she was recipient of the prestigious Edgard Varèse Award and a Master of Music performance degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Erica is excited to now call Whidbey Island home, the perfect place to play drums, drink coffee, and explore nature. In her spare time she is always keeping an eye out for the elusive Sasquatch or our local Southern Resident Orcas.
Debra Richardson, Vice President​​
Jonathan C. Cluts, Treasurer
Jonathan Cluts is honored to serve on the Board of Directors for the Whidbey Island Saratoga Orchestra. He is also a long-standing board member of Music Works Northwest in Bellevue, WA, and has contributed to several other charitable and professional boards. Professionally, Jonathan Cluts dedicated over 24 years to Microsoft, where he contributed to various teams, including usability and the systems group. As the Director of Strategic Prototyping, he led the team responsible for creating prototypes of consumer technologies projected five to ten years into the future. Cluts holds numerous patents and has multiple patent applications in the fields of software systems and user interface design. Following his retirement from Microsoft, he served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the University of Washington Bothell. Prior to his tenure at Microsoft, Cluts was actively involved in the music industry, owning and managing several recording studios while also producing and performing music. He studied music and audio engineering at Indiana University and earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from the University of Washington Bothell.
Kate Matwychuk, Secretary
Kate joined the Board at the start of 2023 after meeting with Anna and Larry about developing educational outreach opportunities for the orchestra on Whidbey Island. Prior to moving to the area, Kate worked as an Education Program Manager with the Santa Rosa Symphony in Sonoma County, CA. Her primary responsibility there was to coordinate the Simply Strings program, an El Sistema-inspired program that offers free music education to students. El Sistema believes music education can effect positive social change and that through musical engagement, children grow into empathetic, resilient and fully engaged citizens. Kate hopes to support the educational work the orchestra is already doing with the students on Whidbey and look for ways to expand these programs to include more students.
In her youth, Kate played principal bassoon in the Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, in Ontario, Canada and continues to believe double reed players are a unique breed.
Currently, Kate works at the Oak Harbor Library and has been impressed by Whidbey Island's commitment to the visual and performing arts.
Sandra Anderson
Deidre Fairfax​​
Karen Heather
Karen Heather (she,her) moved to Whidbey Island in 2020 after many years as a collaborative pianist and chamber musician in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was the founder and director of the Noe Valley Chamber Music Series in San Francisco for 25 years. Here on the island she has performed with the Saratoga Orchestra and the Whidbey Island Community Orchestra as well. She was the Music Director for a musical at Outcast Productions and enjoys collaborating with other musicians whenever possible. She received a Master of Music in Piano Performance from Lancaster University in England.
Chris Jolly
Don Shearer
Gordon Ullmann
Gordon Ullmann began his position with the board in 2024. His involvement with the orchestra began at its first season in 2007 with Legh Burns at the podium, and has been a member of the group in the trumpet section periodically since then. Gordon has performed professionally over a 40 year career in a variety of styles, including orchestral, chamber music, early music, musical theater, polka bands and swing bands. He holds a degree in music theory from Seattle Pacific University, and studied modern trumpet with Lauren Anderson, and baroque trumpet with John Thiessen. While not performing music, Gordon is a project manager for a landscape construction company in Seattle, and in the remainder of his spare time he enjoys spending time on the Salish Sea in his cabin cruiser, and helping his wife with endless garden projects at his home on Whidbey Island.