Harry Baker

Piano

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Harry Baker is an award-winning British pianist and arranger active at the highest levels of both jazz and classical performance. As a jazz musician, he has worked with Jamie Cullum, Misha Mullov-Abbado and others at venues including Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and Kings Place. As a classical pianist, collaborations with sopranos Fatma Said (Warner Classics), Danielle de Niese (Metropolitan Opera) and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason have led to performances at Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and the Verbier Festival. Recent international touring highlights include the Edinburgh International Festival, Lucerne Festival and Konzerthaus Berlin.

A versatile and high-profile arranger, Harry has written for Aurora Orchestra, Jamie Cullum, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, The King's Singers, Britten Sinfonia and the Jess Gillam Ensemble. In 2024, Harry made his BBC Proms debut with an hour-long programme of his arrangements of classical, jazz and pop music for Fantasia Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. Harry’s arrangements have been recorded on Decca Classics and BBC Radio 3, and published by ABRSM.

In early 2020, Harry released his debut EP, ‘The Floating Boy’, a suite for big band and voices performed by the Oxford University Jazz Orchestra and vocal group The Oxford Gargoyles. The album launch was accompanied by a feature interview in London Jazz News and was played on Jazz FM, leading presenter Helen Mayhew to comment that “the future of British jazz is in very capable hands”.

Harry is in-demand as a session musician, and has appeared on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, in addition to BBC1&2 with choirmaster Gareth Malone. He is also a passionate advocate for music education, and holds the position of Lecturer of Music at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, where he is the Founder and Director of the Oxford University Jazz Scheme.

harrybakermusic.com

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"simmering rivulets of notes ... an exhilirating range of music"
The Arts Desk

"The future of British jazz is in very capable hands"
Jazz FM

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Harry was also WAF's 2021 Composer-in-Residence.