Nate Baxter
Nathan is a graduate of the Utah State University Choral Music Education program. He proudly hails from Gilroy, California, the Garlic Capital of the World. His wife, Heidi, is a native of Evanston. Together, they have six amazing kids who range in age from 2-15. Mr. Baxter's musical inspiration comes from his high school choir teacher, Phillip Robb, who taught at Gilroy High School for over 30 years. With the Gilroy High School Chamber Singers, Mr. Baxter performed at the 1994 ACDA Western Division Convention, where he was a featured soloist. The next year the Chamber Singers went on tour to Japan and Korea. In Japan, they visited the Peace Park in Hiroshima and performed on Japanese National Television in front of the Memorial Cenotaph, an empty tomb dedicated to those who lost their lives in the atomic bomb attack of World War II. After graduation in the summer of 1999, Mr. Baxter went on a 5-country tour to Europe with the San Jose State University Choraliers, ending in their performance at the World Choral Symposium in Rotterdam, Holland. Mr. Baxter is proud to be directing the Evanston Civic Chorus and hopes to use his experiences to enrich and enlighten the experiences of the choir members as well as the Evanston community.
Orchestra Director
James Arbizu
James received his bachelor's degree in Music Education at Weber State University and his master's degree in Orchestral Conducting at Brigham Young University. In his career as conductor he has performed with over twelve university, community and youth orchestras, including the Lincoln Youth Symphony, Nebo Youth Philharmonic, BYU University Strings, BYU University Orchestra and the BYU Symphony Orchestra. James taught orchestra in public school for seven years before purchasing Mountain Music in Afton, Wyoming. He recently opened a branch of Mountain Music in Evanston. In addition to managing his stores, he performs as lead fiddle with the Bar-T-5 band, teaches privately, and conducts. Currently he is Orchestra Director of the Salt River Symphony Chorus and the Evanston Civic Orchestra.
