Diane Baxter
Diane Baxter is a classical pianist who began performing at age 11 and hasn't quit since. She has performed as a soloist, a chamber musician, and an orchestral pianist throughout the United States, in Canada, and in Japan. She has concertized with many internationally renowned artists, including Donald Sinta, Boris Kucharsky, Werner Tripp, and Neil Wilson. Her training is primarily from a long heritage of Hungarian piano teachers.
Diane earned a Bachelor's degree in Music and French from Fort Wright College, a Master of Music in Piano Performance University, and a Doctorate in Piano Performance and Music History from the University of Oregon (DMA). She is currently Professor of Music at Western Oregon University where she has received the Faculty Honors Award for Outstanding Creativity (1994) and the Mario and Alma Pastega Award for Excellence in Teaching (2005).
She is a member of the Honors Faculty and regularly teaches courses in Ethnomusicology, Women in Music, Accompanying, and Studio Piano. Diane adjudicates for piano festivals around the northwest, and is the Principal Keyboard Artist for the Newport Symphony Orchestra and the Ernest Bloch Music Festival. She has appeared as soloist with the Newport Symphony Orchestra, the Cascade Festival of Music Orchestra, the Western Oregon Symphony, and the Oregon Mozart Players. Diane's solo piano CD, Alive at Dawn, was released in 2003 by Teal Creek Records.
Diane's life is enriched tremendously by her husband Paul, her daughter, Caitlin, her son, Quinn, and her mother, Mazie. The family shares their life with three cats (Boomer, Shadow and Sunnie), an enthusiastic Border Collie named Maddie, some tropical fish (unnamed), a quarterhorse named Peanut, an Appaloosa named Cheyenne and various types of chickens - who shall not be eaten and are also unnamed.