Assistant Conductor
Jim Bates is Director of Orchestral Activities at Otterbein College. As a conductor and teacher, Dr. Bates is able to draw on considerable experience as an educator, performer and historian. For eighteen years he was a conductor for the Louisville (KY) Youth Orchestras and was music director of that organization from 1996-2001. In 1999 he joined the conducting staff of Interlochen Center for the Arts and continues to co-direct the Junior Orchestra program and Junior String Institute there in the summer.
Since coming to Otterbein in 2004, Dr. Bates has served as the assistant conductor and principal bassist of the Westerville Symphony. In fall 2006 he began as an assistant conductor for the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestras. He has served as a clinician or guest conductor in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, California, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Colorado. He has served as president of Kentucky ASTA and as string coordinator for the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts.
In addition to string education, he is very involved with the Classical Mandolin Society of America and also period instrument performance. Dr. Bates is also an active performer on the double bass and various early music instruments such as the viola da gamba, recorder and the medieval vielle. He has been a member of The Early Interval, Columbus' professional early music performance ensemble, since 2002. He has degrees from the University of Louisville (B.M.E.), a Masters in double bass performance from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Kentucky. His wife, Jena Huebner, is a bassist in the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and they have two sons, Ethan five years old, and Gideon who is two.