Jury Kobayashi-Baxter

Jury Kobayashi-Baxter began performing at the age of three years old when he volunteered for his preschool’s production of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. Having such comfort on stage, Jury’s parents enrolled him in a local performing arts theater company, “The Theatre School” where Jury spent the next fourteen years mastering his craft.  By the age of twelve, Jury was not only acting for The Theatre School but he was also teaching different classes and working with the professional side of the school as a clown and actor. It was through this process that Jury became fascinated with writing the songs for different musicals and also the incidental music for the play. 

Jury began playing the double bass in his grade nine-music course.  He had an instant love for the double bass and began practicing every free moment he had.  He was obsessed with the idea of creating the perfect sound and striving to constantly better himself as a musician.  He was asked to join many different ensembles including a symphony orchestra, a jazz band and wind ensembles.  With so many opportunities given to him as a bassist, Jury learned that the bass could be incorporated into many different styles of music.  

During the summer of 2009 Jury was accepted to the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina.  After spending five weeks playing the double bass for ten hours a day, Jury knew he was going to become a professionally trained musician.  Setting the goal to fulfill his dream, he began commuting to Toronto each week in order to take private lessons with Tim Dawson, a member of the Toronto Symphony.  Jury attended the first year of his undergraduate degree at Wilfred Laurier University, studying under George Greer.  It was at Laurier that Jury first encountered freely improvised music and sound art.  The second year of his undergraduate degree, Jury enrolled and subsequently obtained his undergraduate degree in the music performance program as a classical double bassist, from the University of Toronto.  At the University of Toronto, Jury studied with both Paul Rogers and Tim Dawson.  

During the summer of Jury’s first year of his undergraduate degree, he was offered a summer position with The Great Big Theatre Company.  As a camp counselor, Jury worked with young children putting together plays while teaching them music and dance.  This became the start of Jury’s journey to combine his loves for acting, music, and teaching.

Having obtained his degree from the University of Toronto, Jury was accepted as a Masters of Music student at the Longy School of Music where he is presently studying with Pascale Delache-Feldman.  While at Longy, Jury has continued his growth in many different avenues of music, which includes being involved with jazz ensembles, early music ensembles and composing as well as his new passion, conducting.  At the same time, Jury has been able to continue his journey towards blending his love of acting, teaching and music through his involvement with the El Sistema Program that is offered through the Longy School of Music. It is Jury’s long-term objective to continue with his dream of blending his love of performing and teaching through music and the arts.