This is A Personal Touch, a chance to check in with ordinary people making an extraordinary difference in the world. I’m Rebecca Cressman and today our guest is making extraordinary music. Her name is Jenny Oaks Baker and what a pleasure it is to talk with you Jenny.
Thank you. It’s wonderful to chat with you as well.
Q: Well, it’s interesting because as people get to know you and they can learn more about you on the web, they see that not only are you a violin virtuoso but you are a mother of four young children balancing all of it. And yet in the midst of all that you had to carry, you have been able to channel some incredible music abilities and perform at some of the most premier music halls around the world. I am so excited to say that you will be coming to perform with the Utah Symphony October 7th at the Libby Gardner Hall in the University of Utah Campus. Can you take me back in time a bit? You were the concert mistress there in the ‘90s which was more than a decade or so ago. What was it like for you to be so young and yet performing at such a high level?
A: Well, I just always wanted to be a violinist and so it was a wonderful opportunity to be Concert Master of Utah Youth and I just enjoyed my time with them so much. Utah has such a great art scene that it was really easy to be involved in extraordinary musical things when I was young and growing up, and it really prepared me for the life that I am living now.
Q: And when you say that you’ve always loved playing the violin, if someone has not had a chance to sit in the audience and be treated by your music and you really are recognized as one of the premier classic violinist, but you actually started playing at a very young age. You were four years old. Do you remember as a little girl feeling that passion for the instrument already at that age?
A: I did. I always loved performing. I never really enjoyed practicing and it still is not my very favorite to do, but I’ve always loved performing. But the practicing enabled me to perform. So that was always a huge passion for me.
Q: And you were eight years old when you had your solo debut?
A: Yes. I was actually with Utah Youth, no it wasn’t, it was Utah Valley Symphony, and it went so well that I thought, “I really want to do this the rest of my life.
Q: Well, it’s interesting too because one of the things you do, and when someone has a unique talent like you do, a lot of times people will say, “I fell in love with the instrument. It’s what I really wanted to do and you talk about how your mother so passionately supported you and your family encircled you, but you are also gracious enough that you say that you wouldn’t have been able to develop the abilities that you have now without other people’s lives touching yours. That there is an entire community of musicians that want to see you succeed. Did you feel that?
A: Oh absolutely at every step along the way. My mother and my father financially supporting us and now my husband really does everything he can to make my life happen. To make everything come together with family and my performances and recordings and I really couldn’t do it without his support, without my in-law’s support, without my parent’s support and their willingness to step in and help me with my children when I need them, and really make it happen. So I’m grateful.
Q: And it seems interesting to see that point that in order for you to be performing with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. which you did for many years, you needed to have that kind of support. Now you have a new CD that is out. It is called the "Silver Screen Serenade" and it’s music from movies that are so recognizable like West Side Story and Somewhere In Time. Were these your personal favorites?
A: They really were. I chose my very, very favorite songs from movies to put on the CD and I knew I was going to love the CD because they were my very favorite movie music, but it surpasses everything I even hoped it would be. My very favorite song is "The Suite" from Far and Away and Kurt Bestor is a phenomenal arrangement of that. The theme from Schindler’s List is on there. Music from An American in Paris; The Mission.
Q: Romeo and Juliet.
A: Yes, "A Time for Us" from Romeo and Juliet. It’s just really a very good album. I mean I love my Holy Night Christmas album, I really, really love that and I love all my albums but this one I just really, really, really, really enjoy this one.
Q: Well, I’m curious for you. For many of us who listen to beautiful music, music is a way of kind of transporting us to almost another place or another time or another feeling. What is it like for you when you are playing music that is powerful? Music like you said that was arranged by Kurt Bestor. Music that has in itself its own history and story?
A: Well it does transport you to another place and I really try to take my audience with me whether it is through recordings or through performances and that’s the fun of it. It really takes you somewhere else emotionally and spiritually and it takes you to all of these different places just like a great book or a great movie can. And music can also be almost more personal than that because there is nothing locking you into a specific emotion to feel or a specific story. You can go your own place with wherever the music takes you. And I try to go there with my music really in a powerful way so that it can transport another person as well.
Q: I want to go back to what you said about music communicating spiritually. You are an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and from a family that is well recognized with your father’s position in the leadership of the Church. Do you find that your musical talent or musical performances are another way of expressing your own beliefs?
A: Oh absolutely. I feel most strongly my faith when I am performing especially when I am doing religious music. That is really when I commune with my Heavenly Father and I really do feel the Spirit and I feel Him speaking to me while I play and I hope that I convey that in my music and I am able to touch all kinds of people of all kinds of different faiths through my music. That’s really my overall goal is to bring people closer to Heavenly Father and I’ve always been grateful that music has brought me closer to my Father in Heaven.
Q: And like you said, it is in some sense music, if it does elevate the soul, it elevates any soul of any faith and it becomes something that binds people together.
A: Absolutely. Very unifying.
Q: Well I have to say, “Thank you.” I know in the background we have been able to kind of hear the gurgle of your youngest child but this reflects what so many people need to I guess embrace and also understand that we all have such incredible gifts to give and yet we have to juggle it all in order to make it happen. And Jenny Oaks Baker, thank you not only for your dedication to your family, but for taking time to create such beautiful music to inspire all of us.
A: Thank you. It’s a huge blessing in my life to be able to be a mother and to be a performer.
Well and we appreciate the opportunity to see you when you are coming to perform not only here in Utah with the Utah Symphony but also with the Utah Youth Symphony. But also in the other opportunities we will have as we look forward to hearing more of your music from your newest CD.
Well thank you.
And thank you Jenny for joining us today. I am Rebecca Cressman and we want to thank you for joining us for this week’s edition of A Personal Touch. Be sure to check your email next Saturday to find out who else like Jenny Oaks Baker is making a difference in our world with ‘A Personal Touch.’
End of interview.
