Tom Baker

Tom Baker has been active as a composer, performer and music producer in the Seattle new-music scene since arriving in 1994. His works have been performed throughout the United States, in Canada and in Europe. Tom has appeared as guest conductor for the Seattle Creative Orchestra and as composer-in-residence for the a cappella vocal ensemble The Esoterics, and has received awards and grants from several organizations including the Meet the Composer, the Jack Straw Foundation, the Washington State Arts Commission, Artist Trust, Seattle Arts Commission and the King County Arts Commission. Tom's composition instructors have included Chinary Ung and John Rahn. He received his doctorate in composition in 1996 from the University of Washington, where he currently teaches Music Theory. As the artistic director and curator of the new-music concert series, the Seattle Composers' Salon, Tom is dedicated to producing and promoting the new and adventurous music which is being created in the Pacific Northwest. He is co-director of the Seattle EXperimental Opera (SEXO) and co-founder of the new-music recording label Present Sounds.

In addition to his work as a composer, Tom has presented papers on a wide variety of topics at various festivals and conferences including the College Music Society National Annual Conference in Santa Fe; the Contemporary Opera at the Millennium Symposium at Hofstra University; the International Conference on Cybernetics and Systems Research in the Arts at Baden-Baden, Germany; and the Society of Music Theory National Conference at University of North Carolina. His article, The Composers' Studio, A New Paradigm, will be published in the 2002 edition of the College Music Symposium. He also serves as contributing editor to Open Space Magazine and is an associate editor for Perspectives of New Music.

Over the past two years, Tom has been performing throughout the Northwest as soloist and in ensembles on the fretless guitar. Exploring the microtonal implications that the instrument offers, Tom has performed in concerts and provided masterclasses on this new instrument. He has performed with the Seattle Creative Orchestra, Ned Evett and Franck Vigroux among others. Tom has also teamed up with microtonal vibraphonist Dale Speicher to form duo MIKRO PROPAGANDA, which has premiered works by Baker, Christian Asplund, and Joshua Parmenter.

Source: Selected articles from Tom Baker Personal Homepage - Biography

http://www.tombakercomposer.com/biography.htm