Richard Baker

A follower of composer Louis Andriessen, Richard Baker is also an influential conductor who champions other contemporary composers. Baker began to attract attention as a composer with Los Rábanos for B-flat clarinet, violin, and percussion (1998), which has been frequently performed by the Composers Ensemble, and Learning to Fly (1999), a concerto for bass clarinet that had its premiere by the London Sinfonietta and soloist Timothy Lines. Both as composer and conductor, he has cultivated relationships with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and other contemporary-specialist ensembles. He has also conducted more mainstream ensembles, such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Many of Baker's own works were featured on the 2024 release Richard Baker: The Tyranny of Fun. Baker is a professor of composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.