Dr. Robert Hart Baker was music director of the Harrisburg Choral Society from 2004 to 2014, and Director Emeritus of the Society.
At the age of 16, Dr. Baker received a performance diploma in oboe from the Academie Internationale in Nice, France, and a year later he debuted professionally at the Salzburg, Austria, Mozarteum Conservatory. At 20, Baker graduated cum laude from Harvard University, where he studied under Leonard Bernstein. Baker founded the Connecticut Philharmonic Orchestra in the same year and received graduate degrees from the Yale School of Music in 1976 and 1978.
For many summers, Dr. Baker assisted Gian Carlo Menotti and Christian Badea, guest conducting Spoleto Festival Orchestras both here and in Italy.
Dr. Baker's orchestras have appeared in Boston Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and the Kennedy Center . He has also been choral director for the Macy's New York Holiday Concerts broadcast by NBC-TV.
Dr. Baker was most recently artistic director of the Belleville (IL) Philharmonic Society and conductor of the Belleville Orchestra and Chorale. He also conducted the St. Louis (MO) Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Asheville (NC) Lyric Opera. Dr. Baker was also director emeritus of the York (PA) and Asheville (NC) Symphony Orchestras.
Dr. Baker passed away in December 2023. He is survived by his wife, flautist Barbara Baker.