IU composition professor wins Academy Award in Music, $7,500

The American Academy of Arts and Letters recently awarded IU professor Claude Baker with an Academy Award in music. Each of the four composers selected receive a $7,500 award along with an additional $7,500 to help fund the recording of one work.\nBaker has been nominated in the past, but this was the first successful nomination for him. Each year the academy invites members to select the winner after careful consideration of each of the nominees' scores and recordings. The award recognizes outstanding artistic development.\nA graduate of the Eastman School of Music in 1975, Baker came to IU in 1987 as a visiting professor. In 1988 he joined the music faculty. His opinion of the IU School of Music has only strengthened since.\n"I feel very fortunate to be at IU. I've got the greatest students I could imagine," Baker said. "(IU) truly has the greatest school of music in the country."\nBaker's music has been performed by some of the world's top orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Orquesta Nacional de España.\nDon Freund, chair of the Composition Department, has been at IU for 10 years. He said Baker is becoming more appreciated and better-known through performances of his work. \n"It's his music that's going to make him the most loved and recognized," Freund said.\nMusic is a form of expression utilized by many people, but Baker said writing music can be a double-edged sword.\n"It can be painful. Writing music is a difficult process for me," he said. "But the finished result is a gratifying thing anyone can experience."\nFreund also believes the recognition Baker receives as a result of the Academy Award has the possibility of making the IU School of Music even more well-known. The School of Music attracts students from around the world. Faculty and students travel to this school to share experiences and opinions. \n"It's a very collegial-type working environment," Baker said. "The teachers approach the students as colleagues."\nIt is this environment that creates better opportunities for learning and understanding music. Baker said placing everyone in that professional environment is part of what makes IU stand out among music schools.\nFor arriving professors there could be an aura of intimidation surrounding the school. But Sven-David Sandstrom said when he came ot IU three years ago, Baker helped to alleviate much of the stress that usually accompanies new experiences.\n"He took care of me when I arrived," Sandstrom said. "He was tremendously nice and helpful."\nBaker hopes to put the entire amount of money he won towards making a recording of his music. He said it is hard to get a recording in this country because it is very expensive. A 60-minute CD with a major orchestra in the United States costs about $280,000, and a second tier orchestra would cost about $80,000 to $85,000.\nCurrently in Italy on sabbatical, Baker plans to return for the presentation of the award in May at the academy's annual ceremony.