Dr. Andrea C. Baker serves as Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Western Illinois University, where she maintains an active career as a performer and educator. She is a founding member of Cirrus Blue, a contemporary woodwind quintet dedicated to the performance and promotion of new music. Through Cirrus Blue and her previous work with Camerata Nova Contemporary Woodwind Quintet, Dr. Baker has developed an extensive record of commissioning, premiering, and performing new works for the contemporary woodwind quintet. She is principal bassoonist with Opera in the Ozarks and second bassoonist with the Richmond Symphony in Indiana.

Dr. Andrea C. Baker serves as Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Western Illinois University, where she maintains an active career as a performer and educator. She is a founding member of Cirrus Blue, a contemporary woodwind quintet dedicated to the performance and promotion of new music. Through Cirrus Blue and her previous work with Camerata Nova Contemporary Woodwind Quintet, Dr. Baker has developed an extensive record of commissioning, premiering, and performing new works for the contemporary woodwind quintet.

Dr. Baker was a founding member of Camerata Nova, through which she helped establish a substantial body of new repertoire for flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon. The ensemble commissioned and premiered works by composers including Katherine Pukinskis, Matt Mason, Hong-Da Chin, Paul Berlinsky, and others, with support from the International Double Reed Society and Western Illinois University Research Council, and the Western Illinois Performing Arts Society. Camerata Nova presented its work at the International Double Reed Society Conference, the College Music Society National Conference, and the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, and served as Ensemble in Residence at the Virginia Tech 2025 Woodwind Festival. In 2026, Dr. Baker and her colleagues presented “Commissioning the Contemporary Woodwind Quintet” at the Chamber Music America National Conference, sharing their experiences developing new repertoire and collaborating with composers.

Her chamber music work has taken her to festivals and stages throughout the United States and internationally, including a residency at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa and performances at the Australasian Double Reed Society Conference in Melbourne, Australia. She also performs with Some Light Reeding, a clarinet and bassoon duo focused on increasing accessibility and equity in woodwind education through workshops, masterclasses, and mentorship.

A dedicated educator, Dr. Baker teaches bassoon and chamber music at Western Illinois University, where she also serves as Chamber Music Coordinator and Applied Area Coordinator. Her teaching emphasizes technical excellence, musicality, collaboration, and professional development, with a particular interest in creating meaningful opportunities for students to engage with contemporary music and chamber performance.

Dr. Baker is principal bassoonist with Opera in the Ozarks and second bassoonist with the Richmond Symphony in Indiana. Her orchestral engagements include performances with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Asheville Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony, and Chattanooga Symphony, among others. As a soloist, she won the 2021 University of Cincinnati Wind Concerto Competition and the 2017 Boston Woodwind Society Sherman Walt Merit Solo Competition.

Dr. Baker holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music from New England Conservatory, and a Bachelor of Music from Penn State University. Her principal mentors include William Winstead, Martin Garcia, Christopher Sales, Richard Svoboda, Daryl Durran, and Shirley Curtiss.