James Baker is an American electro-acoustic composer, percussionist and conductor.

Life and career

James Baker graduated with degrees in music from

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, SUNY Purchase is one of 13 compr ...

and

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

, where he studied percussion and conducting. He began a long time collaboration with choreographer

Tere O'Connor Tere O'Connor (born 1958) is an American dancer, choreographer and educator. Life and career Tere O'Connor was born in Rochester, New York, and graduated in 1979 with a B.A. from State University of New York at Purchase. He performed in the compa ...

and has composed numerous works for Tere O'Connor Dance, including

Bessie Award The New York Dance and Performance Awards, also known as the Bessie Awards, are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, ...

winner ''Heaven Up North''. He was also the composer for ''Like Two Kevins'' for the

Lyon Opera Ballet Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. His works have been performed internationally. Baker works as Principal Percussionist for the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

Orchestra and serves as director of the Percussion Ensemble at the New School,

Mannes College of Music The Mannes School of Music (), originally called the David Mannes Music School and later the Mannes Music School, Mannes College of Music, the Chatham Square Music School, and Mannes College: The New School for Music, is a Music school, music con ...

. He also serves as music director of the Composers' Conference at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

. Baker often leads the New York New Music Ensemble and Speculum Musicae, and is resident conductor at the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

's Center for 21st Century Music. He also appears as guest conductor with the Cygnus and Talea Ensembles. Baker appears as director on recordings including the CD, ''David Felder: Boxman'' (2002). He appears as percussionist on recordings including ''Millennial Masters Vol. 1''.

Works

Selected works include: *''Cover Boy'' (2011) *''Wrought Iron Fog'' (2009) *''Rammed Earth'' (2007) *''Baby'' (2006) *''Frozen Mommy'' (2004)

References

External links

Tere O'Connor Dance official siteTere O'Connor Dance ''Rammed Earth'' (excerpts)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, James Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American composers American male composers American percussionists New York City Ballet Bessie Award winners Juilliard School alumni Place of birth missing (living people) State University of New York at Purchase alumni 21st-century American male musicians University at Buffalo faculty