Garth Baxter
(1946 - )
Composer Garth Baxter is noted for his modern traditionalist style of writing. This is a style that combines the traditions of form and clear melodic writing with the use of contemporary approaches to harmonies and other elements.
Baxter was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1946 and moved to California when he was nine years old. He earned music degrees from Pepperdine University and California State University at Northridge. He studied composition with Robert Hall Lewis, Joseph Wagner, and William Thornton. Mr. Baxter also studied classical guitar with Ronald C. Purcell and David Underwood, clarinet with Veikko Leskinen, and piano with Clarence R. Haflinger.
Garth Baxter was on the music faculties of Kentucky Wesleyan College, The Colorado College, Gettysburg College, Wilson College, and McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) before retiring from teaching to concentrate on composing. He taught music theory, music history, composition, and guitar. He also directed numerous ensembles. Over the years, he has been invited to serve as artist/composer-in-residence at various universities.
Mr. Baxter was an active classical guitar performer throughout the United States from 1979 through 2004. He performed in solo recitals, as well as in chamber settings with voice, flute, violin, and cello. He played regularly as part of a duo with flutist Linda Kirkpatrick. Still, his first love has always been composing.
Garth Baxter’s earliest compositions were dedicated to chamber music, writing for violin, piano, and guitar. In his 20’s, he began to concentrate on vocal music, composing a number of songs for voice and piano and for voice and guitar. Baxter’s many works for voice and guitar were cited by Paul Hurley in Soundboard Magazine (Volume 17, #2, 1990) as some of the finest works of the genre written in the 20th Century. His song cycle, From the Heart: Three American Women (Columbia Music Company), was recently the topic of a doctoral dissertation.
In the mid-1980’s, Mr. Baxter directed his focus to writing for larger ensembles, including symphonic band and orchestra, but particularly for choruses. His choral works have been performed worldwide, receiving high praise from both audiences and performers. His popularity and success with these choral pieces encouraged him to enlarge his choral writing to include organ and small instrumental ensembles with the chorus. His pieces And Death Shall Have No Dominion and Journey to Ithaca are excellent examples of his choral works that combine adult choir, children’s choir and instrumental groups into a single production. This natural evolution led to his current project, an opera, Lily, based loosely on the Edith Wharton novel, The House of Mirth. New York based writer Lisa VanAuken is writing the libretto for this opera.
Over the years, Garth Baxter has received numerous honors and awards. He has been the featured artist in radio broadcasts, has been artist/composer-in-residence at several different universities, has adjudicated at many festivals and competitions over the years, and has been a winner of composition contests. For over 20 years, Garth Baxter was a regular contributor to Soundboard Magazine – the quarterly publication of the Guitar Foundation of America – writing articles and music reviews.
Garth Baxter’s works are published by Mel Bay Publications, Columbia Music Company, ALRY Publications, Les Productions D’OZ, and Voices of Training. He continues to be associated with McDaniel College where he maintains a small studio teaching both composition and guitar. His music is performed throughout the world.
