Composer Spotlight: TOM BAKER

The Unadorned Composer and the Extravagant Art of Opera

Wed, June 11, 7:30pm

Guitarist Tom Baker has been active as a composer, performer and music producer in the Seattle new-music scene since 1994. He is the artistic director of the Seattle Composers' Salon, and co-founder of the Seattle EXperimental Opera (SEXO). Baker will talk about his compositional process, and his evolving relationship with writing operas. He will be playing excerpts of a new recording of his chamber opera The Gospel of the Red-Hot Stars, a project in the 2006 Jack Straw Artist Support Program, as well as discussing his most recent operatic premiere, Hunger: The Journey of Tamsen Donner.

Tom Baker performs on fretted and fretless guitars, and has worked with many innovative musicians, including Stuart Dempster, William O. Smith, Christian Asplund, Chinary Ung, Ellen Fullman, Gino Robair, and Henry Threadgill. He has released two solo albums, and with his band the Tom Baker Quartet released a new album last year, "Look What I Found", which has garnered much attention and critical acclaim. Tom has received many grants and awards for his work, including honors from the Seattle Arts Commission, Meet the Composer, Artist Trust, and Jack Straw Productions. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in Holland and England.