Stuart Paton, Founder and Artistic Director of Burlington Taiko, spent most of his childhood in Japan, from age nine months through eighteen years. His earliest exposure to taiko included a first-grade fascination with the drums at an Obon celebration in Tokyo, and learning "Matsuri Daiko" from the composer of the score for his high school drama production. His formal study of taiko began in 1984 during a summer apprenticeship with Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka, the founder of the first taiko group in North America (San Francisco Taiko Dojo), and he founded the Burlington Taiko Group in 1986 not long after settling in Vermont.

His other hobbies include: reading sci-fi/fantasy/spy fiction, salsa and folkloric dancing, walking though marketplaces, yard sales, and antique shops, and composing new percussion pieces. He is also an active student, teacher, and performer of Cuban and Haitian congas and djembe.