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Linda Boyd Coates has served as Executive Director of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra since October 2007. She formerly held this position from 1993-1996, a period of dramatic growth in the organization. In 1995, Linda left FMSO to establish a recording studio and independent record label with her husband Mike, which they continue to operate. Ms. Coates holds bachelors and masters degrees in music from Minnesota State University Moorhead. She taught vocal music at MSUM, University of North Dakota and West Fargo High School before entering the field of non-profit arts administration in 1990 as executive director of Lake Agassiz Arts Council. She has conducted several choirs in the Fargo-Moorhead area, and currently serves as adult choir director at First Congregational UCC in Moorhead. She is a prolific composer, writing several choral works and instrumental arrangements each year, and she was recently commissioned to write a piece for concert band which will be premiered at a Haiti earthquake relief event this spring. In 2004, Ms. Coates was elected as a Fargo City Commissioner and served as deputy mayor of Fargo from 2006-2008. In 2009, Ms. Coates was awarded the Individual Arts Advocate Award by The Arts Partnership of Fargo-Moorhead. She has a daughter, Lindsay, who is the director of bands at Oak Grove High School in Fargo; and a son, Keith, who is a sophomore at Fargo South High School.
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