James Baker
Producer, Host: Classics a la CarteJames first introduced himself to KPAC listeners at midnight on April 8, 1993, presenting Dvorak's 7th Symphony played by the Cleveland Orchestra. Soon after, he became the regular overnight announcer on KPAC.
If pressed to describe himself, James will say he is a musician who hosted classical music. For over 40 years, he has worked as a professional French horn player, holding posts in the Austin Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Orquesta Filarmonica de la Ciudad de Mexico, Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, and Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa, the oldest orchestra in Mexico.
James also is an avid marathoner. Look for him running the streets of San Antonio with his three rescued border collies.
-
Unlike Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen, who wrote their songs with numerous collaborative lyricists, and not at all like Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, who…
-
American musical theater is not all fluff with no bite. In fact, the 1930s saw a maturity coming to the genre. George Gershwin and George Kaufman brought…
-
The current reprise of "The Art of American Popular Song" on KPAC, KTXI, and online at TPR.ORG is presented as a parallel to the current exhibition at the…
-
Remember the kid in elementary school, maybe junior high (I'm showing my age), who always sat in class drawing pictures? I recall those people and how I…
-
The ongoing radio series, "The Art of American Popular Song," is now into week two, with "The Art of Irving Berlin." The series will continue over the…
-
Has any songwriter written a more consistent body of love songs than Irving Berlin? These are plentiful on this week's Art of American Popular Song, along…
-
Make a date with KPAC and KTXI for the next eight Sunday afternoons for The Art of American Popular Song, the reprise of a series produced over a decade…
-
In 2003 and 2004, Texas Public Radio’s James Baker and Kathy Couser produced a multi-part series on the art of the American Popular Song, focusing on…
-
On March 10, 2017, Texas lost a legendary music educator and master band director, Fred H. Junkin. He began his teaching career in Teague, Texas before…
-
Thank you, MexicoI've seen a fair number of Thanksgivings pass in my day, almost all of them spent in Texas, with friends and family. It's by far my…