Musical Director and Junior/Debut Director Sheila Bateman brings a wealth of experience and expertise to Snoqualmie Strings. The Snoqualmie resident grew up in Newcastle, where she began studying the violin at age 4 and later played in the Seattle Youth Symphony.  She then attended Brigham Young University, where she played with the BYU Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras, and studied violin privately with Barbara Williams. She studied conducting with Paul Broomhead at BYU and Will Kesling at USU. She earned a BS from BYU in 1990 and a MS from USU in 1994, when she began teaching violin privately. She moved to Snoqualmie in 2004, and in 2009 founded the Snoqualmie Strings Youth Orchestra. She has also served as the music director for her church's regional choir and orchestra (2007-2018), as well as the Assistant Choral Conductor for the Ensign Symphony and Chorus (2013-2019), and Ensign Youth Chorus Director (2017-2019). She currently plays in the Ensign Symphony in addition to maintaining her private studio and Snoqualmie Strings.

Sheila is an avid arranger and transcriber, with over 50 pieces of music for her church choir, youth orchestra, and Ensign Chorus. Making arrangements of great classics, such as Dvorak's New World Symphony and Beethoven's 5th, to be played by all levels of Snoqualmie Strings together remains one of her favorite activities.