Regina Harris Baiocchi
b. 1956
Regina Harris Baiocchi is an author, poet and educator. Her music has been performed by Detroit Symphony, Chicago Symphony, US Army Band, Seattle Philharmonic, Southeast Symphony orchestras and other internationally-acclaimed artists. Performances include concerts in Rome, Paris and Bari, as part of Festival Incontri Musicali di Musica Sacra; in Köln and Unna, Germany at the Women Composers’ Library; and in Turkey.
Regina is the subject of articles in New Grove Dictionary of American Music, Oxford University Press’s Black Women in America, 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 orchestral music, libretto and one-act opera, hand drum concerto, marimba concerto, ballet, chamber music, liturgical and secular music, vocal and instrumental music. Recordings include her piano etudes, “Equipoise by Intersection” on the Kaleidoscope CD; a work song,
“Legend of John Henry” (from her ballet) recorded by baritone, Robert Sims on Soul of a Singer CD; Kidstuff, her compositions for children; 6-song cycle, “e. e. cummings songbook” on Eileen Stremple’s unto to thee i sing CD; and 3 opera arias on Lifescapes CD by Rae-Myra Hilliard.
Regina wrote articles on Women Composers and Musicologists, Spirituals, Jazz, Gospel Music, Hip-Hop, Black Arts Movement and Poetry for Oxford University Press Encyclopedia Black Women in America (music, education). Her poetry and prose appear in Chicago Tribune Magazine, AIM Magazine, ESI Anthology, Technology News and Gwendolyn Brooks and Working Writers. She is featured at HistoryMakers.com and Answers.com.
Regina’s compositions and papers are stored at Amistad Research Center (Tulane University), Center for Black Music Research (Columbia College Chicago) and Vivian Harsh Repository (Chicago Public Library, Carter G. Woodson Regional branch). Regina taught at Chicago City Colleges, Columbia College; Dominican, Northwestern and Wayne State universities.
Biography taken from composer’s website.
