Brandon Stirling Baker

Last updated

Brandon Stirling Baker is an American lighting designer working internationally in ballet, opera and theatre. [1] Baker received a 2024 Tony Award nomination for Best Lighting Design in a Musical for his design of Illinoise on Broadway. [2]

His lighting can be seen on Broadway and in the repertories of New York City Ballet, [3] American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet, [4] San Francisco Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Berlin Staatsballet, Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, Semperoper Ballet Dresden, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Compañía Nacional de Danza, Cincinnati Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Nashville Ballet, BalletMet, and Opera Philadelphia. [5] Baker has designed over 30 premieres worldwide for choreographer Justin Peck, and works frequently with choreographers Jamar Roberts and William Forsythe. [6] [7] He received a 2019 Knight of Illumination award for his work on Justin Peck's Reflections at the Houston Ballet. [8]

Baker studied at the California Institute of the Arts, [9] Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama in Glasgow, Scotland, and the Yale School of Drama as a Special Research Fellow. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Ballet</span> American ballet company

New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946.

Gilbert Vaughn Hemsley Jr. (1936–1983) was a noted United States lighting designer and teacher of lighting design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiler Peck</span> American ballet dancer (born 1989)

Tiler Kalyn Peck is an American ballet dancer who is a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. As well as ballet, she has performed in musical theatre shows and has made cameo appearances in films including Donnie Darko and television series including Tiny Pretty Things.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Mearns</span> American ballet dancer

Sara Ann Mearns is an American ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at New York City Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Grace</span> Internationally touring New Zealand dance company

Black Grace is one of New Zealand's leading contemporary dance companies. Founded by Neil Ieremia in 1995, Ieremia draws from his Samoan and New Zealand roots to create innovative dance works that reach across social, cultural and generational barriers. Since its inception, Black Grace has changed the face of contemporary dance in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The work itself is highly physical, rich in the storytelling traditions of the South Pacific and expressed with raw finesse, unique beauty and power.

Eugene Von Grona, was a German professional dancer and choreographer. He was born in Berlin as Eugen Pressner. As a child he visited the United States quite frequently, where he became enamored with the cakewalk and minstrel shows. By the 1920s, after completing his studies under Mary Wigman, von Grona finally made his move to the United States with his wife Leni Bouvier. Both dancers, they were fascinated by the new artistic innovations of the Harlem Renaissance. He enjoyed the sounds of Duke Ellington and other ragtime favorites. In 1930, Von Grona arranged the dance, "Mechanical Ballet," for the Broadway musical, Fine and Dandy. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times said, "the most stunning dance number is a mechanical ballet, which is quite the most vivid of its kind."

Clifton Taylor is a theatrical Designer who is based in New York.

Chloe Arnold is an American dancer and Emmy-nominated choreographer, actress, director, and producer. She is best known internationally as a tap dancer, and was seen on Season 11 of FOX's So You Think You Can Dance with her company Chloe Arnold's Syncopated Ladies.

Charles Atlas is a video artist and film director who also does lighting and set design.

Kevin Dreyer is an American lighting designer of dance, theatre, opera and film, Full professor of Theatre at the University of Notre Dame and resident lighting designer for the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival. Dreyer is also a dance lighting reconstructor for the works of Gerald Arpino, Moses Pendleton and Kurt Jooss.

Katarzyna Skarpetowska is a dancer and choreographer of Polish descent. She danced with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company from 2007 - 2014, and Parsons Dance Company. from 1999-2006. Her choreography, often set on the Parsons company, is noted for providing a more emotionally complicated contrast to Parson's work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Peck</span> American choreographer, director, and dancer

Justin Peck is an American choreographer, director, and dancer associated with New York City Ballet, of which he was appointed Resident Choreographer in July 2014, being the second person in the history of the institution to hold this title. He made his Broadway debut working on the 2018 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel earning the Tony Award for Best Choreography. Peck choreographed the dance sequences for Steven Spielberg musical adaptation West Side Story (2021) and Bradley Cooper's biographical drama Maestro (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Hodes</span> American dancer (1924–2023)

Stuart Hodes was an American dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, dance administrator and author. He was Martha Graham's partner, danced on Broadway, in TV, film, in recitals, and with his own troupe. His choreography has appeared on the Boston Ballet, Dallas Ballet, Harkness Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and other troupes. He taught at the Martha Graham School, Neighborhood Playhouse, NYC High School of Performing Arts, headed dance at NYU School of the Arts and Borough of Manhattan Community College. He was Dance Associate for the NY State Council on the Arts, dance panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, president of the National Association of Schools of Dance, and a member of the First American Dance Study Team to China in 1980, returning in 1992 to teach the Guangzhou modern dance troupe.

Paz de la Jolla is a contemporary ballet choreographed by Justin Peck for the New York City Ballet. It is Peck's third choreographed piece, the 422nd ballet choreographed for the New York City Ballet, and its creation was featured in the documentary Ballet 422. The costumes were designed by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung with supervision from Marc Happel, with lighting by Mark Stanley The 20-minute piece features 18 dancers and premiered on January 13, 2013.

The Times Are Racing is a one-act ballet by Justin Peck, to "USA I-IV" from Dan Deacon's album America, with costumes designed by Humberto Leon from the fashion label Opening Ceremony and lighting design by Brandon Stirling Baker. It premiered on January 26, 2017 at the David H. Koch Theater, danced by the New York City Ballet.

Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes is a one-act ballet choreographed by Justin Peck to "Four Dance Episodes" from Copland's Rodeo. The ballet premiered on February 4, 2015, at the David H. Koch Theater, danced by the New York City Ballet.

Year of the Rabbit is a ballet choreographed by Justin Peck to music from Sufjan Stevens's album, Enjoy Your Rabbit. The ballet premiered on October 5, 2012, at the David H. Koch Theater, danced by the New York City Ballet.

In Creases is a ballet choreographed by Justin Peck, his first for the New York City Ballet, to Philip Glass' "Four Movements for Two Pianos". The ballet premiered on July 14, 2012, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, during the company's annual season there, and had its New York City premiere on May 29, 2013.

In the Countenance of Kings is a ballet choreographed by Justin Peck to music from Sufjan Stevens's The BQE. The ballet was Peck's first ballet made for the San Francisco Ballet, and premiered in 2016 at the War Memorial Opera House.

Everywhere We Go is a ballet choreographed by Justin Peck and scored by Sufjan Stevens. The ballet is plotless, danced by a cast of 25 and features nine sections. This is the second collaboration between Peck and Stevens, following Year of the Rabbit (2012). Everywhere We Go was created for the New York City Ballet (NYCB), and premiered on May 8, 2014, at the David H. Koch Theater, during NYCB's spring gala. The success of the ballet led to Peck's appointment as resident choreographer of NYCB, as the second person to hold the position.

References

  1. ↑ Seibert, Brian (9 January 2019). "A Master of Dance Lighting Steps Out of the Shadows". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/
  3. ↑ "NYCB - Everywhere We Go (New Stevens/Peck)". Archived from the original on 2014-07-08. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  4. ↑ Barbour, David. "Inside the Kaleidoscope", Lighting & Sound America P.22, New York, 1 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "Inside the Hemsley Lighting Internship", Lighting & Sound America P.24, New York, 10 July 2011.
  6. ↑ Seibert, Brian (9 January 2019). "A Master of Dance Lighting Steps Out of the Shadows". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ Barone, Joshua; Sommerfeld, Mark (2023-01-24). "Justin Peck's New Americana, Set to Copland's Old". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  8. ↑ "Winners of the second Knight of Illumination Awards USA revealed at glamorous ceremony". 23 November 2019.
  9. ↑ "CalArts".
  10. ↑ Barbour, David. "Inside the Hemsley Lighting Internship", Lighting & Sound America P.24, New York, 10 July 2011.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.