James Baker is an American electro-acoustic composer, percussionist, and conductor. Baker studied at Juilliard and SUNY Purchase. He is a longtime collaborator Tere O'Connor and has composed numerous works for Tere O'Connor Dance. In 1988, Baker won a Bessie Award for his contribution to O'Connor's Heaven Up North. James Baker is currently Principal Percussionist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Music Director and Conductor of the Composers Conference at Wellesley College, Director of the Percussion Ensemble at the Mannes College of Music, and Faculty at The New School.