Springboro Wind Symphony

Performer Details

Performer Bio Synopsis

The Springboro Wind Symphony (SWS) is a non-profit premier ensemble providing professional musical experiences including concerts, chamber ensemble performances and educational opportunities for Springboro and surrounding Miami Valley communities in southwest Ohio. This professional ensemble emerged from the vision of Stephanie Catanzaro, Sheila Lairson and Josh Baker in the Fall of 2019 with the goal of providing a high caliber ensemble for musicians in the local community. The ensemble began rehearsing in January 2020 with 50 musicians and has grown to 85 musicians. The Springboro Wind Symphony has performed throughout the Dayton and Cincinnati area including performances at the Music for All Cincinnati Regional Concert Band Festival and on the premier stage at the 2023 Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference in Columbus, Ohio. The ensemble is fortunate to have the support of a Board of Directors, the Springboro Chamber of Commerce, community sponsors, and Springboro High School band directors, Nick Palmer and Connor Reidy. The Springboro Wind Symphony rehearses twice a month at Springboro High School and is comprised of talented musicians with diverse backgrounds, ages and aspirations. A majority of the musicians have at least one degree in music from a four-year college or university.

Springboro Wind Symphony

Conductor's Bio

Josh Baker proudly serves as the Conductor and Music Director of the Springboro Wind Symphony from Springboro, Ohio. Josh is currently employed as a School Administrator for the Beavercreek City School district in Beavercreek, Ohio. He has also taught grades 5-12 band for the Greeneview Local Schools in Jamestown, Ohio during the 2007 school year, and then served as the Assistant Band Director at Centerville High School(CHS) in Centerville, Ohio, for 10 years. His responsibilities at Centerville included directing the Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensemble 1, Pep Band, Pit Orchestra, and assisting with Concert Band, and Wind Symphony. The Wind Symphony performed at the Ohio Music Educators Association convention in 2010 and at the Music for All National Concert Band Festival in March of 2013 and 2017. Also during his tenure at Centerville, Josh was the assistant director of the nationally acclaimed marching band known as "The Centerville Jazz Band,” which competed on a national stage in the Bands of America regional and national championships. The band was a Bands of America National Finalist in 2008 and 2009 in Indianapolis, and it won numerous BOA Regional Championships. Additional duties in Centerville’s music program included teaching band at all three middle schools in the Centerville City School District, plus he directed the Middle School Honor Band program for several years. He designed curriculum for and instructed courses on jazz improvisation, music technology, basic music theory, and AP music theory at CHS. While under his direction, the Centerville Jazz Ensemble 1 performed at the OMEA Professional Development Conference in 2010 and 2012. He remains an active professional member of OMEA, having served as the Co-Chair of the 2011 OMEA All-State Band and as the Chair of the OMEA District 12 High School Honor Bands several times during his tenure in Centerville. Josh is a 2007 graduate of Wright State University (WSU) in Dayton, Ohio where he graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Music Education. While at WSU, he had the privilege of studying saxophone and music education methods with Dr. Shelley Jagow. He has performed with the Dayton Philharmonic Concert Band, Dayton Jazz Orchestra, Sinclair Wind Symphony, and the internationally acclaimed Avion Saxophone Quartet from WSU. Josh was also a featured soloist with the WSU Chamber Orchestra and Symphonic Orchestra as a two-time Concerto competition winner. As a member of the quartet, he performed at several state and national level conventions, and was recorded on the first commercial CD release of the Avion Saxophone Quartet titled Avion Saxophone Quartet Volume 1. Josh received a fellowship to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chamber Music Institute in 2006 where he received coaching with the Chiara String Quartet. He also had the honor of attending lectures and performing in a master class with the French saxophone virtuoso and professor emeritus of saxophone, Bordeaux Conservatory (France), Jean-Marie Londeix. In 2015 Josh was named the outstanding alumni of Wright State University’s School of Music and in 2017 was named the Centerville Education Foundation Outstanding Teacher and Hall of Fame Inductee. Josh earned a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Dayton in 2013, and since that time has completed the requirements to be a K-12 Principal and Superintendent. He is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and currently resides in Centerville, Ohio with his wife Katie and two daughters.