Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon Music Director & Conductor

Nathanael Hooper
YSSO Music Director
Conductor, Youth Symphony & Youth Orchestra

A graduate of the Greenwood School of Music at Oklahoma State University (OSU) where he received a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting, Nathanael Hooper served as Assistant Conductor of the Oklahoma State University Orchestra and OSU Youth and Community Orchestra under the guidance of Thomas Dickey.

Starting with the University Orchestras at Brigham Young University-Idaho where he received his undergraduate degree in Music Education, Mr. Hooper has led orchestras for ten years. He worked as a music teacher in both the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District in Idaho and Thatcher School District in Arizona and conducted school orchestras.

Mr. Hooper has studied with notable conductors throughout the United States, including at the University of Denver-Boulder, Bard College in New York, and with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra in Ohio under Carl Topilow. He worked with conducting teachers including Gary Lewis, Larry Livingston, Jeffery Meyer, and James Bagwell.

He was also chosen as a 2024 Conducting Associate at the Pacific Northwest Conducting Institute and worked with the Saratoga Orchestra on Whidbey Island (Washington State) where he worked under the mentorship of Anna Edwards and Diane Wittry. He had the privilege of conducting a portion of the final concert.

Mr. Hooper began his musical journey as a violinist at age eleven. He has been involved in orchestras, bands, jazz bands, choirs, opera and musical theater pit orchestras, medieval musical ensembles, and a fiddle band.

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The members of the board and staff, current and former musicians, volunteers, audience members, music coaches, and donors offer their heartfelt thanks to Cynthia Hutton for her thirty years of exemplary service as music director and conductor. Dr. Hutton retired at the conclusion of the 2024-2025 season.

Cynthia Hutton, D.M.A.
YSSO Music Director & Conductor, 1995-2025

Prior to her retirement from Southern Oregon University (SOU), Dr. Hutton was an assistant professor at SOU and served as chair of SOU's department of music. She is a member of the Rogue Valley Symphony and the SOU Faculty Brass Quintet. She has served on the boards of the Oregon Music Educators Association and the College Band Directors National Association - Northwest Division. Dr. Hutton is a recipient of the Alteria M. Bryant Award honoring women in the arts, as well as SOU’s Elmo Stevenson Presidential Award.  Before relocating to southern Oregon, she was director of bands and horn instructor at the University of California, San Diego, and was assistant conductor of the La Jolla Civic University Orchestra.  She received a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in conducting from the University of Colorado (Boulder).