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Barry Baker
For the past 13 years, Barry Baker has been performing solo theatre organ concerts and major venues from New York to Los Angeles. His appearances have included concert tours in England, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, and Australia (including Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Adelaide). He was selected as the only American representative to perform a concert for the 1996 Theatre Organ Society of Austria National Convention, held in Sydney. In 1999, Barry was the recipient of the American Theatre Organ Society "Organist of the Year" award.
Barry is a graduate of Southern Ohio College (Broadcasting, 1992) and The University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (Piano Performance, 1996), where he studied piano with Richard Morris. Barry's solo piano recitals have included Francis Poulenc's "15 Improvisations for the Piano" and Fredric Chopin's "Piano Sonata no. 2," among works by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Debussy.
In 1996, Barry began a four-year association with the Milwakee, Wisconsin area, in accepting the positions of Resident Organist at The Organ Piper Music Palace Restaurant (where he entertained on a large Wurlitzer pipe organ, Piano Instructor at The Family Music Center, and Principal Organist at the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Brookfield, Wisconsin. In 2000, he relocated back to his hometown of Cincinnati to join to Baldwin Piano Company corporate headquarters, serving as Musical Product Specialist. In this position, he toured coast-to-coast, performing concerts and workshops in Baldwin's digital piano line and acoustic player piano system. His travels for Baldwin included a program at keyboard manufacturer Generalmusic's world headquarters in Northern Italy.
Currently, Barry is a Artist and Clinician for Kawai America Corporation (headquartered in Los Angeles), a position which finds him performing public concerts and workshops nationwide on Kawai's sophisticated digital piano line.
Barry has released two commercial compact disc recordings of his solo artistry on the acclaimed Ronald Wehmeier Studio Wurlitzer (in Cincinnati), which have received critical and popular praise - "For The Very First Time" (1995) and "A Barry Baker Concert" (1999). The latter title features selections recorded live in concert. Since 1989, Barry has been Artist-In-Residence at the Wehmeier Studio, where he has performed a series of well-attended solo concerts. He has also appeared on other commercial recording releases.
Barry's musical training began with formal piano instruction at the age of eight, while teaching himself theatre pipe organ performance. His musical career was well under way with the appointment of a church position at the age of 10 as a pipe organist and pianist. One year later, he performed his theatre pipe organ debut in Downtown Cincinnati on the Emery Theatre Wurlitzer. By the age of 12, Barry was invited to perform a series of programs on the noted four manual, 33 rank Wurlitzer pipe organ at Cincinnati's Springdale Music Palace Restaurant where, years later, he became a resident organist. After that association, he entertained for four years on the four manual Wurlitzer at The Shady Nook Restaurant, also in the Cincinnati area.
At the age of 18, Barry won first prize in the 1989 international Young Organist Competition (American Organ Society). As a result, he was a featured artist at the 1989 and 1990 ATOS National Conventions, which launched his concert career. In total, he has performed for 13 internationally-attended theatre pipe organ conventions, which consisted of International, Regional, Annual, and ATOS chapter-sponsored conventions.
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