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Jan Baker
Saxophonist Jan Berry Baker is a native of Alberta, Canada. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed throughout North America, France, Ukraine, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic. She has won top prizes in numerous competitions including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the North American Saxophone Alliance Concerto Competition and the Johann Strauss Society competition. An advocate of new music, she is the Co-Artistic Director and saxophonist with Bent Frequency and has commissioned and premiered works by numerous composers, including Robert Scott Thompson, Carolyn O’Brien, Jennifer Walshe, Perry Goldstein, Joel Puckett, John A. Lennon, M. William Karlins, William Bolcom, Mischa Zupko, Mark Engebretson, and Nick Demos. As an orchestral saxophonist, she regularly performs with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic and the Atlanta Opera and has been featured as a concerto soloist with orchestras in Canada, the United States and most recently with the National Symphony of the Ukraine. She has recorded American Orchestral Works with Grant Park Symphony on the Cedille Label and has been broadcast in recital on CBC and NPR. She is currently recording Citizens of Nowhere, a CD project of works written for clarinet and saxophone. As an educator, Dr. Baker is Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Georgia State University. She holds a Doctor of Music degree in saxophone performance from Northwestern University and is a Selmer Performing Artist.