Amanda Baker
Amanda Baker is a Melbourne composer whose work ranges from electronic pieces to chamber, choral and piano music, shaped by an early turn away from conventional idioms toward new sound worlds.
Born in 1962, she grew up in the Long Forest near Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, studying piano and recorder before taking up composition at university. After a break from music she returned with Phoenix Songs, a fierce dialogue of recorder and piano.
Her catalogue also includes a string quartet, Five Bagatelles for piano, choral and ensemble works, electronic pieces, A Whitsun Cantata for amateur singer-players with narrator and tape, Epithalamium for recorder, and a concerto for recorder and chamber orchestra.
I was born in 1962. I grew up in the Long Forest near Bacchus Marsh (Victoria). I played the piano and recorder as a child, and went on with both at University (recorder with Ruth Wilkinson) as well as taking up composition. I developed a strong interest in electronic music as an alternative to what I then felt to be the unsatisfactory idioms offered by conventional media. After finishing my studies I abandoned music completely for a time, becoming very interested in tai chi, pottery and gardening. The need to be doing something musical eventually reasserted itself, and I began working on Phoenix Songs. Among my other pieces are a string quartet, Five Bagatelles for piano, several pieces for choir and ensemble, electronic pieces and A Whitsun Cantata, a semi-dramatic piece for a troupe of twelve amateur singer/players, narrator and tape. I am currently finishing a concerto for recorder and chamber orchestra for Genevieve.
Compositions by Amanda Baker appear on
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Recorder player Genevieve Lacey and percussionist Poul Høxbro present a programme spanning medieval dance, Irish folk melody, Baroque virtuosity and contemporary Australian works.
Phoenix Songs
Like the phoenix rising from the ashes, the recorder is enjoying something of a renaissance. Six well-known Australian contemporary composers pair it with piano, harpsichord, voice and live electronics.