TRAILBLAZER: one word to describe Renée Baker. The words “polyproductive” and “prolific” can also be used to describe Ms. Baker, founder and music director of the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project. During the final months of the 2012/2013 season, Ms. Baker conducted the premieres of three original compositions inspired by the life and work of Mark Rothko and recently received the Charles E. Walton Black Music Month Award from Chicago’s Vivian G. Harsh Society.
Renee Baker is a very active figure in the cultural life of Chicago, having been a member of the Chicago Sinfonietta since 1987 and having appeared as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician throughout Chicago, including a Ravinia debut as viola soloist in Strauss’ Don Quixote, partnering with John Sharp, cellist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In tandem with her career performing “traditional classical music”, Ms. Baker has been making great strides both as a conductor and as a composer of modern music.
Ms. Baker maintains a deep reverence for those who were influential in her development as an artist. “I am incredibly grateful to Paul Freeman for serving as a stalwart mentor to me as a conductor, composer, and musician,” she said. “I was groomed over 25 years in the Chicago Sinfonietta – Paul first hired me as a violist in the orchestra in 1987 when it was founded, and was the first conductor both to ask for and premiere two symphonies that I had written.”
Those premieres include the October 2010 world premiere of Ms. Baker’s “Sundown’s Promise” - a thirteen-section work inspired by the Japanese rice harvest and spotlighted by Japanese Taiko drums – and the May 2011 premiere of “Divertimento Notte blu” for Orchestra and six jazz soloists. Commissioned by the Chicago Sinfonietta, both works received great critical acclaim, and the May 2011 premiere of “Divertimento Notte blu” marked another high point in Ms. Baker’s steadily growing career, as it was in that performance that she made her Symphony Center debut as a conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta.
To have been the recipient of such a tremendous opportunity from a mentor was indescribable for Ms. Baker, as both premieres took place during Maestro Freeman’s final season as music director of the orchestra that he founded. Symbolically, one could refer to that season as Mr. Freeman’s “passing the baton” to an emerging visionary. It was also during the 2010/2011 season that Ms. Baker was hailed as
“The latest AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) visionary” by Downbeat Magazine.
Renee Baker is definitely riding a wave, becoming one of the most influential proponents of modern music in the twenty-first century. In recent years, new music ensembles including Washington DC’s Great Noise Ensemble, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and three-time Grammy Award-winning Eighth Blackbird (also based in Chicago) have captured the attention of concertgoers and musicians worldwide. Renee Baker and the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project are soon to join the ranks of the aforementioned ensembles, as CMOP is now positioned to establish a true international presence and reputation as the go-to orchestra both for new music and for composers of color.
The reverence that Ms. Baker holds for her mentors is in tandem with her insatiable curiosity. “About seven years ago, I started looking at both the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the American Composers Orchestra, as I wondered if both those groups and orchestras that were programming ‘traditional classical music’ were attracting audiences for modern music.” Continuing, she shared that in the formative years of the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project, she purposefully sought out people who were at the top of their game and who had an authentic interest in what she was trying to learn. “These people, some of the most foremost jazz and creative musicians - including composer and MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient Anthony Braxton and flutist/composer and Doris Duke artist Nicole Mitchell - were able to answer the questions that I had.”
The Chicago Modern Orchestra Project is a special ensemble in many ways. “I believe in inclusion,” Renee said, “and many of these people are people that I have been grooming since 1991. We have managed to marry the best of traditional classical musicians and the best of avant-garde jazz players in Chicago, and we’re rapidly expanding our reach beyond the United States. CMOP’s roster includes musicians who are also members of the Chicago Sinfonietta, and freelance with the Chicago Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony, Chicago Opera Theatre, Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, and many other fine ensembles. This is why we can do absolutely authentic presentations of classical music, jazz, and modern concert music. I am able to get a flavor that most ensembles are not able to.” With CMOP, Ms. Baker has shown herself to be a leader in developing true orchestral diversity, as no other orchestra in the United States can boast the authentic inclusiveness of the ensemble in both musical expertise and demographic: in addition to being an awesome mix of classical and jazz musicians, CMOP membership is a true reflection of our nation’s ethnic diversity.
“During our first season, we presented a total of fifteen concerts, including both large ensemble concerts and smaller community concerts. The ensemble has performed at both Dominican University and the South Shore Cultural Center, and our first ‘laboratory’ was held at Velvet Lounge.” Ms. Baker’s belief in inclusion pervades the work of the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project, as CMOP has, since its inception, premiered an average of ten works each season, including compositions by Ms. Baker and others received through the ensemble’s open score project. “It is truly wonderful not only to have created an opportunity to continuously hone my skills as a composer, but also to constantly introduce fresh music to our audience.”
Ms. Baker’s reach as a composer has grown steadily over many years. Her works have been performed by groups including the Chicago Sinfonietta Chamber Ensemble, Southeast Symphony
(Los Angeles), DanceWright Project (San Francisco), Great Black Music Ensemble /AACM(premiered in Umbria, Italy, 2009), and presented both by the Joffrey Ballet Chamber Series and the Museum of Contemporary Art/Chicago. Ms. Baker continues to secure performances of her works both nationally and internationally, including the upcoming 2014 premiere of “blu Samsara” in Zolle (Netherlands) and the anticipated premiere of “Sunyata” in 2015.
In recent years, CMOP has garnered attention from many people and organizations dedicated to the composition and performance of modern music, and the 2013-14 season will mark the beginning of a three-year period of great expansion. Between 2013 and 2016, the ensemble is slated to present an exciting assortment of new works by some of the most interesting and innovative composers working today.
“Our 2013/2014 season begins with the premiere of my Simple Consciousness: Painted Scores Exploratorium at Chicago’s Out of Line Gallery,” Ms. Baker said, “and during that season we shall also give the Chicago premiere of Nicole Mitchell’s When Life's Door Opens for Chamber Orchestra and 3 Vocalists. This piece was commissioned and premiered in New York by the Tri-Centric Orchestra, and Nicole, having very deep roots in Chicago, offered us the chance to give the Chicago Premiere.” The organization New Music USA has also paired CMOP with 2008 Rome Prize finalist Gregg Wramage for a series of premieres to take place between January 2014 and May 2015. The three-year period 2013-2016 also includes works by UK-based composers Mark Yeats (who has recently become Composer-In-Association with Atlanta’s Chamber Cartel) and Alistair Zaldua.
When asked how she manages such an involved, diverse, and innovative career, Renee answered in a very simple yet profound manner: “You find time to eat, right? For the things that are vital to our existence – that we identify as vital – we find time. This is all about quality of life – a life filled with art and creativity. If you are a cultural creative, everything is open to you.”
As they stand on the precipice of tremendous growth, everything is definitely open both for Renee Baker and the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project – a woman and an organization that stands for growth, discovery, inclusion, and true openness.
-Samuel Thompson
Update 1/15/13: I am dismayed to report that the Sojourner Truth sculpture was recently vandalized. The sculpture was pushed off of the pedestal and broke in pieces on the ground. It is still unclear whether the sculpture can be repaired. I’ve included a photo of the broken sculpture at the bottom of this post.
