Esther Baker

Esther Rogers Baker, cellist, is a teacher, performer, and creative facilitator whose work explores integrated collaboration in the performing arts. Her artistic interests intersect with science, teamwork, and interdisciplinary ideas, and her career has focused on chamber music performance, collaborative composition, new music, and teaching.

 

Baker has trained with and performed alongside distinguished artists, including Jorja Fleezanis, Jodi Levitz, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Menahem Pressler, Axel Strauss, and the Miami String Quartet. She has participated in master classes with renowned artists and ensembles, including Laurence Dutton, Pamela Frank, Ani Kavafian, Steven Isserlis, the Belcea Quartet, and the Miró Quartet.

 

Her collaborative practice integrates music, movement, visual art, and science, including a recent performance at the Rochester Fringe Festival of ‘The Goodness of Stepping Outside’, a duo with dancer Joanna Rodriguez. Baker’s creative output spans silent film and electronics, dance, and interdisciplinary performance where she has worked as a cellist, director, composer, and facilitator.

 

As an educator, Baker is committed to helping students develop technique, expressive skills, effective practice strategies, and sustainable approaches to performance while honing their own unique interests and musical style. She is passionate about improvisation and technique, and coaching students towards their personal goals and visionary projects.

 

Baker earned a Master of Music degree in Chamber Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from The Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. She has also pursued advanced studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Frost School of Music.