BAKER, Joanne Johnson

One of the most beloved and soughtafter piano teachers in America, Joanne knew from the start that she would become a musician. At age four, she gave her first solo piano recital in a career that would take her to Carnegie Hall and around the world. Joanne was born on October 18, 1923, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Luella May Johnson and Franklin August Johnson. From infancy through high school, she studied piano with her mother, a well-known pianist and former head of the Quincy Conservatory of Music in Illinois. Music led to unpredictable adventures.

As a young composer, Joanne Baker wrote music for church, band, and choir, then went on to string quartets and solo piano pieces. After her piano sonata won a national competition, Joanne was invited in 1954 to play the piece at Carnegie Hall, where it was broadcast on national radio. But it was her love of teaching that would emerge as the primary focus of her career, and her students became a second family to her. In 1948, Dr. Wiktor Labunski invited Joanne to join the faculty of what is now the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC). She became its longest-serving faculty member, teaching at the school for 49 years and chairing the Keyboard Division for the last 25 of those years. She was designated a Curators' Professor, the University's highest honor.