BSO Appoints Josh Baker ’14 as New Associate Principal Bassoon

Alumnus Josh Baker ’14 has been appointed the new associate principal bassoon of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal bassoon of the Boston Pops, beginning in the 2024-25 season.

A native of Boise, Idaho, Baker was previously principal bassoonist of the Florida Orchestra from 2018 to 2024. Before Florida, he served three years as principal for the Charleston Symphony in South Carolina. Baker has held the principal bassoon position with the Colorado Music Festival since 2022. He has also participated in the Tanglewood Music Center, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival, and the Sarasota Music Festival.

As a soloist, Baker has performed Astor Piazzolla’s Serie del Angel with the Florida Orchestra and Carl Maria von Weber’s Bassoon Concerto with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, He played Henri Dutilleux’s Sarabande et Cortège and Piazzolla’s Cafe 1930 at the Kennedy Center as part of the Conservatory Project.

Baker graduated from NEC in 2014, studying under BSO bassoonists Richard Ranti and Richard Svoboda, the chair of NEC’s woodwinds department.