Regina Baiocchi, African American Composer (b. 1956)

AfriClassical is pleased to present the bio of Regina Harris Baiocchi, an African American composer who was born in 1956. Her Etude No. 2 (2:48) is available on the CD Kaleidoscope: Music by African-American Women; Helen Walker-Hill, piano; Gregory Walker, violin; Leonarda 339 (1995).

Regina Harris Baiocchi

Regina Harris Baiocchi is a composer and author. Her music has been performed by Detroit Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Seattle Philharmonic, and Southeast Symphony orchestras; the US Army Band, various ensembles and universities in the USA. European performances include concerts in Rome, Paris and Bari, as part of Festival Incontri Musicali di Musica Sacra, and in Unna, Germany at the Women Composers’ Library. (See composer’s résumé, vita, and list of compositions.)

Regina is the subject of articles in New Grove Dictionary of Music, International Dictionary of Black Composers, cover profile of Spirituals to Symphonies: Music by Black Women Composers, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Reader, Chicago Daily Defender, Hyde Park Herald and the South Loop Journal.

Regina has written music for symphony orchestra, libretto and one-act opera, hand drum concerto, ballet, chamber music, liturgical and secular music; vocal and instrumental. Commercial recordings include her piano etudes, “Equipoise by Intersection” on the Kaleidoscope CD; a work song, “Legends” (the Legend of John Henry, from her ballet) recorded by baritone, Robert Sims; and Kidstuff, a CD of her compositions for children.

Regina wrote articles on Women Composers and Musicologists, Spirituals, Jazz, Gospel Music, Hip-Hop and Contemporary Poetry for Oxford University Press Encyclopedia, 2005 edition. Her poetry and articles appear in Chicago Tribune Magazine, AIM Magazine, ESI Anthology, Technology News and Gwendolyn Brooks and Working Writers. She is featured at TheHistoryMakers.com website.

The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans, requested and was bequeathed with Regina’s papers. Regina’s original, compositions, letters, awards, etcetera are stored at Amistad’s repository; and at the Center for Black Music Research located at Columbia College Chicago.

Her debut novel, Indigo Sound, and poetry volume Urban Haiku, garnered critical acclaim. Regina lives in Chicago with her husband, Greg.

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African+American" rel="tag">African American
Black+Woman" rel="tag">Black Women