Back for his fifth season with the conducting and coaching staff of the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestras is Dr. Jim Bates, Director of Orchestral Activities at Otterbein College. As a conductor and teacher, Bates is able to draw on considerable experience as an educator, performer and historian. For 18 years he was a conductor for the Louisville (KY) Youth Orchestras and was music director of that organization from 1996 to 2001. In 1999, he joined the conducting staff of the Interlochen Center for the Arts and continues to co-direct the Junior Orchestra program there in the summer. He has served as a clinician or guest conductor in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, California and Colorado. Bates has served as president of Kentucky American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and string coordinator for the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts and currently serves as the competition chair for the Ohio String Teachers Association.