Redfield High School graduate and current Colorado State University music professor, Dr. Nathan Payant, makes his conducting debut as a MidAmerica Productions featured conductor on Saturday, April 13, 2024 at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Payant will conduct Dan Forrest's Lux: The Dawn On High with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, distinguished soloists, and a chorus comprised of members of three ensembles he conducts in Colorado, including the CSIJ Concert Choir, First Methodist Church Choir from Fort Collins, CO, and Laudamus Chamber Chorale.

Perhaps following in the footsteps of generations before him, Payant had a love for music from a very young age. It was in the second grade that he began piano lessons. During that time, the discovery was made of his self-ability to transpose music into different keys. Payant began playing the trombone, his preferred instrument, in the fifth grade. His junior high years brought the guitar into his life.
As a 1999 graduate of Redfield High School, Payant initially pursued a career in instrumental and vocal instruction. While attending college, he continued to play both the guitar and piano in the NSU band. Deciding to focus on only vocal instruction, he earned his Bachelor's in Music Education degree in 2003 from Northern State University in Aberdeen. He went on to teach for 10 years in Littleton, Co and had the opportunity to teach and conduct at the middle school, high school, college, community and professional levels. He then received his Masters in Conducting and Literature from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, in 2007 and a Doctorate in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 2019.
Payant is also the Director of Music and Arts at First United Methodist Church in Fort Collins as well as the artistic director of the Fort Collins community choir, Laudamus Chamber Chorale. In addition, he is the Ensemble Personnel Director and sings professionally with Colorado Bach Ensemble.
Dr. Payant and his spouse, Natalie, have three girls, Faythe, Ava and Lilian, who will also be singing in the ensemble at Carnegie Hall.