“At just 8-1/2 minutes, Baker distills a striking atmosphere of concentrated mystery.”
– Chicago Classical Review describing Drew Baker’s Limb
About Drew
Drew Baker is a Chicago-based composer whose music explores the many sonic identities of conventional and novel instrumentations, often taking into account visual art and politics.
Baker’s music has been performed at venues around the world by groups such as the A/B Duo, Chamber Cartel, Ensemble21, Ensemble Dal Niente, Ensemble Moto Perpetuo, Fonema Consort, The Group for Contemporary Music, h2 quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and the Talea Ensemble. Baker’s piano music has been performed by Amy Briggs, Jenny Q Chai, and Lisa Kaplan, and was recorded by Marilyn Nonken on New Focus Recordings in 2011.
Drew’s Bio
Baker earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music in Composition from Rice University, and a Doctor of Music in Composition from Northwestern University. His composition teachers have included Karim Al-Zand, Shih-Hui Chen, Jason Eckardt, Marti Epstein, and Augusta Read Thomas.
His way of writing for the piano is based on the sonorities—the unique sounds a piano makes and the idiosyncratic way a piano makes them. It is extremely inventive and aurally seductive, and each piece speaks with its own voice.
American Record Guide review of Stress Position, Marilyn Nonken’s recording of Drew Baker’s piano music