2 School of Music professors receive prestigious awards

One has been called a tireless champion of America's musical legacy, largely responsible for its preservation. The other considered a world ambassador of classical music, having shared the stage with the greatest orchestras and conductors of the last century. \nBoth are professors at IU and provide part of the reason its School of Music consistently ranks among the top three training grounds for musicians in this country. And both have recently been honored for their contributions to the arts, awards that are additions to the long lists of accolades they have accumulated over the years. \nProfessors of music David N. Baker and Menahem Pressler were recently honored by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Society of Arts and Letters, respectively. Baker received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal on April 26 in recognition of his 15 years of service to the institution. Pressler will receive the NSAL's Lifetime Achievement Award during their convention on May 18. \n"We have outstanding faculty members at the School of Music, and it's always an honor when their achievements are recognized by such prestigious organizations," IU School of Music media liaison, Laura Baich, said.\nBaker, a cellist and chair of the jazz studies department at IU, is also the artistic and musical director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. The ensemble was co-founded by Baker to provide a vehicle for the re-creation of classic music by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Carter and others. \nHe saw the jazz being performed by high school and college students was a far cry from the music he grew up playing under the guidance of the legends whose photos now grace his studio walls: "J.J.," "Q," and "Diz," known to the rest of the world as maestros Johnson, Jones and Gillespie. He oversaw the publication of the Jazz Masterworks Editions by the Smithsonian, painstakingly reconstructing arrangements of classic works from the early years of jazz. \n"When I went to adjudicate festivals, the kids were playing rock pieces, pieces that were ill-written, pieces that I thought had very little educational value," Baker said. "They were doing nothing to perpetuate music that was on such a firm foundation; for example, the music of the swing era. So we started to put together what we thought were pieces that would fill the vacuum."\nThe Masterworks Orchestra grew out of that publishing project and gave listeners a chance to hear orchestrations as they would have been played by Ellington or Basie. It was during the band's most recent concert, a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, that Baker was awarded the medal, which came as a surprise to him. \n"The first I heard of it was while we were rehearsing a few days before the concert, and I waked into the office and picked up a program. I said 'What is this?'" he said, his face replicating the wide-eyed shock that was his first reaction. \nThe institute bestows the award upon those who, according to a press release, "have made distinguished contributions to areas of interest to the Smithsonian." It went on to call Baker "a true musical renaissance man" whose example "inspires a global embrace of this rich musical art form." The self-effacing cellist, who is the author of a staggering 2000 compositions, 70 books and 400 articles, is quick to give credit to those mentors who have guided him. \n"J.J. Johnson, Dizzy, George Russell...they are the people who gave me the groundwork on which I build. Everybody with whom I've come into contact has so been gracious and giving to me."\nPianist and co-founder of the Beaux Arts Trio, Menahem Pressler, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a four-time Grammy nominee, and the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from one of classical music's most recognizable publications, Gramophone Magazine. The German-born Pressler is gracious yet very pleased with his recognition. \n"We all, especially performers, long to be recognized, loved, you might say," Pressler said speaking softly and choosing his words carefully. "So if you are recognized, and it often comes rather late in life, it causes you to stop, look at your surroundings, and look at yourself. And sometimes you feel quite blessed that you have been able to do the things you do." \n"Of course it gives me great pleasure, but it is greater to know that my family and my friends are pleased," he smiled. "Because they always knew that I was here." \nDespite the fact he has earned numerous honors on his own and with the Beaux Arts Trio, and has appeared as a soloist with such luminary conductors as Loscanini and Szell, Pressler has no plans to rest on his laurels. \n"There is no such thing as a lifetime achievement award," he laughed. "The only time that award can be made is when they put you in the grave and you have done all that can be done. I have always worked very, very hard and I still work very, very hard. I've never given a thought to working less."\nWhile Pressler himself has earned a reputation for bringing excellence out of his students, he is also known to be nurturing and kind. \n"Teaching gives me the greatest satisfaction," he said. "I become the musical parent of all my students while they are here"