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Artist
Michael J. Baker
11+ albums
Jumagammarecfreepurp1e
about
Michael J. Baker was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1949. He began his musical career as a trumpet player, playing with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Tommy Banks Band before moving to Toronto in 1971. There he became involved in the modern dance community as an accompanist. A growing interest in interdisciplinary work prompted a period of study in New York with composer/cellist Gwendolyn Watson. Returning from New York, he studied conducting with Roman Toi as well as harmony, counterpoint and orchestration at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Largely self-taught as a composer, his musical language developed out of an early interest in the pulse and process music of the American minimalists. Soon, Michael J. Baker became one of Canada’s most active composers of music for dance, having collaborated with many of the nation’s major choreographers. His works are in the repertoires of such companies and artists as the National Ballet of Canada, James Kudelka, Toronto Dance Theatre, Peggy Baker, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Dancemakers, Marie-Josée Chartier, and Montréal Danse. Many of these works have been performed extensively throughout Canada, USA, Europe, South America and the Orient. In 1992 he renewed his interest in multi-disciplinary work, creating Big Pictures with painter Dan Solomon and choreographer Bill James. In 2008, the Big Pictures musical score was inducted in the Paul Klee Zentrum Archives in Bern Switzerland. His work with choreographer James Kudelka
