BAKER-Julius. The Juilliard community profoundly mourns the death of Julius Baker, a member of the Juilliard faculty from 1954 to 2003, and one of the most prominent flutists and distinguished teachers of the 20th Century. With impeccable technique, expressive sound, flawless phrasing, and great imagination, Julius Baker brought the art of flute playing to new and unexpected levels. As a teacher, he worked with future generations of principal orchestral players, chamber musicians and solo artists who now perform on the world’s stages. His quick wit and warm personality will be deeply missed, but his legacy continues through his teaching and through his performances. We send our deepest condolences to his beloved wife, Ruth, his children, and his many friends.
I knew Julie quite well, although I hadn’t talked to him or his family for a while and just found out about his death which occured back in August.
Among the resume highlights that the above obit does not mention is his stint as principal flute for the NY Philharmonic for many years, as well as other major orchestras. Remember the old NBC Peacock? That flute playing in the backround was Julie. He had the lushest, richest sound that I ever heard come out of any woodwind instrument.
Back in the early 80’s, I had the privilege of playing recorder for one of his masterclasses, which was a very spooky experience. These were some of the best flute students in the world, many destined to go on to orchestral positions all over the world. Many Baroque flute sonatas were actually written for recorder, and Julie wanted them to hear the “original” sound. We had a running joke-- whenever I heard him play something Baroque, I would say" That was pretty good, but it really SHOULD be played on recorder". All in jest.
I once made a pair of orthotics for Julie, but wouldn’t charge him any more than my lab cost. Several months later, I received a beautiful Yamaha boxwood soprano recorder as a gift, which I especially treasure now.
One of Julie’s greatest pleasures in life was teaching, and he died while teaching his annual masterclass at the age of 87.
Check out amazon.com, etc for sound clips of his playing and you will see what a loss Julie is to the world of music. Great musician, great guy…
I also found out about this only a couple days ago.