Dr. Nicole Baker recently retired from the musicology faculty at Cal State Fullerton, where she taught a
wide variety of music history classes, seminars, and the ensemble Collegium Musicum. She earned the
Ph.D. in musicology and an M.F.A. in vocal performance at the University of California, Los Angeles, and
earned a Fulbright Scholarship for a year of study and research in Heidelberg, Germany. A specialist in
the Classical era, Baker wrote her dissertation on 18th-century Italian opera at the Court of Mannheim,
and A-R Editions published her critical edition of ballet music performed there. Baker also investigates
different topics in music from before 1650 and is working on a book on the life and career of vaudeville
singer Belle Baker. A lifelong singer and conductor, Baker has sung with the Los Angeles Master
Chorale, LA Opera, the Los Angeles Chamber Singers, and I Cantori; she is currently the traditional choir
director at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Pasadena and serves as Artistic Director for the early music
ensemble, Jouyssance.