Julius Baker To Perform At WestConn

DANBURY — The legendary American musician Julius Baker, once praised for “producing what is surely the most glorious tone that ever came out of a flute,” will join Western CT State University faculty members for a recital at 8 pm on Saturday, November 18. The concert will be in Ives Concert Hall, at 181 White Street.

Mr Baker, who celebrated his 85th birthday on September 23, will be joined by flutist Kerry Elizabeth Walker, WCSU’s associate professor and chairman of the music department; and pianist Russell Hirshfield, the university’s newly-appointed assistant professor. The trio will perform works of Bach, Copland, Friedrich Kuhlau and Franz Doppler. Linda Marks, a well-known flute accompanist, will site in on the Kuhlau trio.

Donations for the recently-established Julius Baker Scholarship Fund at Western will be gratefully accepted.

Julius Baker has been equally celebrated overseas, including in Japan, Jorea and Germany, where in 1994 he performed at the 200th birthday tribute to Theobald Boehm, a developer of the modern flute. Mr Baker remains in demand as a teacher and currently teaches at Juilliard School of Music in New York.

Mr Baker has recorded extensively, including for the RCA Victor, Decca, Vanguard, Westminster and Vox Cum Laude labels. For more than 15 years he has taught master classes at WestConn, and more recently he gave master classes at WestConn’s High School Flute Camp, both of which are directed by Ms Walker.

For more information, contact WestConn’s music department at 837-8350.