As Executive Director, Ehren leads NADIA’s Executive Team, directs organizational initiatives, and develops business strategies in alignment with NADIA’s mission and vision.
Ehren L. Valmé (he/him/his)
Executive Director
Ehren Lemir Valmé is an accomplished artist and administrator known for his dynamism and versatility on and off stage. He is the founder of Valmé Arts Consultancy and Executive Director and Co-Founder of the National Arts Diversity Integration Association. Previously, Valmé served as the Artistic and Education Coordinator for the Philadelphia Orchestra. He also held positions as the Low Brass Faculty Assistant at The Juilliard School, Personnel and Operations Manager at The Juilliard Pre-College, and Artistic Operations Intern at Bravo! Vail in Vail, Colorado.
Valmé is the Bass Trombonist of the Montclair Orchestra and a teaching artist with the New York Philharmonic. He has performed with the Princeton Symphony, Symphony in C, and Philadelphia Wind Symphony. He has also appeared with the American Brass Quintet, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and Juilliard415. Valmé has performed under the batons of Marin Alsop, Gerard Schwarz, David Robertson, Emmanuel Villaume, and other renowned conductors as a member of the Juilliard Orchestra.
In the Spring of 2021, The Juilliard School’s Preparatory Division commissioned Valmé to compose a complete collection of etudes for the trombone. These etudes will be integrated into the low brass curriculum for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program in the Fall of 2022. In 2020, the PYO Music Institute commissioned Valmé to compose a work for Bravo Brass, the institute’s brass ensemble. In 2019 Valmé completed a fanfare for The Juilliard Trombone Choir entitled A Caroler’s Fanfare. The work opens the trombone choir’s debut album, “Holiday Classics.”
An ardent supporter of new music, Valmé has spearheaded several initiatives to commission, premiere, and conduct contemporary solo, chamber, and orchestral works. In May of 2021, he performed the world premiere of Hannah Ishizaki’s Concerto for Bass Trombone in Paul Hall with pianist Umi Garrett. In February of 2020, Valmé conducted the U.S. premiere of Connor D’Netto’s Chamber Symphony No. 2 and conducted a virtual performance of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring with Juilliard Orchestra musicians. In 2019, Valmé and tenor trombonist Carlos Jiménez Fernández commissioned and premiered works by composers Jordyn Gallinek, Katie Jenkins, and Hannah Ishizaki.
A discerning ear and technical expertise has earned Ehren Valmé recording and mix engineer credits on several projects. He is a staff engineer at the Centennial Memorial Temple in New York City and his recordings have been presented by NPR’s From The Top, The Violin Channel, and the United Nations Chamber Music Society. Recent clients include Opus Illuminate, Wycliffe Gordon, and several other solo and chamber artists.
Ehren Valmé holds a Bachelors of Music in Bass Trombone from The Juilliard School, where he was in the studios of Joseph Alessi, John Rojak, and Blair Bollinger. Upon graduating, Valmé received the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. Valmé is currently pursuing a Masters in Arts Administration at Columbia University where his research focuses on organizational behavior and life cycles in performing arts organizations.