Andrew BakerAndrew Baker currently holds the position of Assistant Director & Head of Strings at the Orange Regional Conservatorium in NSW, where his main responsibility is to broaden & develop the string programs in Orange & the surrounding communities. This includes the tuition of violin students, either face to face or in group tuition, and string teaching via video conferencing to other regional communities. The ORC string program extends further to coaching string ensembles, running in-school string programs and workshops and master classes in other regional locations. Andrew also runs support programs for regional string teachers.
Andrew’s musical activities extend further to include over 20 performances a year in solo, orchestral and chamber music. These include being concert-master with the Orange Symphony Orchestra, the Macquarie Philharmonia (Australia’s Inland Symphony Orchestra) and directing ‘Zest Baroque’, ORC's early music performance ensemble which performs around 10 performances per year on authentic instruments in the central west.
Andrew completed his Bachelor of Music degree with Honours at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying with Alex Todicescu, where he was awarded the ‘Ginette Neveu Memorial Scholarship for Violinists’. Andrew then travelled to The Netherlands for 3 years to study solo and chamber music with violinists Berent Korfker and Florian Donderer and took part in master classes with Zakhar Bron & Nava Milo. In January 2004 Andrew was the 4th prize winner in the “Maria Yudina international chamber music competition” in St Petersburg, Russia.