Robert Baxter (critic)

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Robert Baxter (October 15, 1940 – August 25, 2010) was an American performing-arts critic and academic who wrote theatre, opera, and classical music criticism for the Courier-Post for close to 30 years. The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that his "writing helped advance the South Jersey arts scene", [1] and Opera News wrote that Baxter was "highly discerning and scrupulously honest, and had a well-deserved reputation as a tough but fair critic whose coverage of theater, opera and classical music in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey was highly valued and respected by his readers and by his colleagues." [2]

Theatre collaborative form of performing and fine art

Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers, typically actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον, itself from θεάομαι.

Opera artform combining sung text and musical score in a theatrical setting

Opera is a form of theatre in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers, but is distinct from musical theater. Such a "work" is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor.

The Courier-Post is a morning daily newspaper that serves South Jersey near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, United States, it serves most of Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties. The paper has 30,313 daily paid subscribers and 41,078 on Sunday.

Life and career

Born and raised in Merced, California, Baxter was educated at Stanford University where he earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a PhD in Classics. After finishing his graduate work, he joined the faculty of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts where he taught Classics for roughly a decade. [1]

Merced, California City and county seat in California, United States

Merced is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of 2014, the city had a population of 81,743. Incorporated on April 1, 1889, Merced is a charter city that operates under a council-manager government. It is named after the Merced River, which flows nearby.

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A Bachelor of Arts is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, sciences, or both. Bachelor of Arts programs generally take three to four years depending on the country, institution, and specific specializations, majors, or minors. The word baccalaureus should not be confused with baccalaureatus, which refers to the one- to two-year postgraduate Bachelor of Arts with Honors degree in some countries.

In 1979 Baxter left his post at Smith College to become performing arts critic for the Courier-Post . He remained in that role until his retirement in 2008. He then joined the faculty at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia where he was a teacher of opera history. He remained in that job until his death in 2010 at the age of 69 in Paterson, New Jersey. The cause was pancreatic cancer. [1]

Academy of Vocal Arts music school

The Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) is a school dedicated to providing free higher education to aspiring opera singers. The school was founded in 1934 by Helen Corning Warden and is located at 1920 Spruce Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Paterson, New Jersey City in New Jersey, United States

Paterson is the largest city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third-most-populous city. Paterson has the second-highest density of any U.S. city with over 100,000 people, behind only New York City. For 2017, the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 148,678, an increase of 1.7% from the 2010 enumeration, ranking the city as the 174th-most-populous in the nation.

Pancreatic cancer endocrine gland cancer located in the pancreas

Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. There are a number of types of pancreatic cancer. The most common, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, accounts for about 85% of cases, and the term "pancreatic cancer" is sometimes used to refer only to that type. These adenocarcinomas start within the part of the pancreas which makes digestive enzymes. Several other types of cancer, which collectively represent the majority of the non-adenocarcinomas, can also arise from these cells. One to two percent of cases of pancreatic cancer are neuroendocrine tumors, which arise from the hormone-producing cells of the pancreas. These are generally less aggressive than pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Claudia Vargas (August 27, 2010). "Robert Baxter, 69, of Cherry Hill, performing-arts critic". The Philadelphia Inquirer .
  2. ↑ "Obituaries: Robert Baxter". Opera News . 75 (6). December 2010.
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