Regina Harris Baiocchi is a composer, author, and poet. Her music has been performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Philharmonic, US Army Band, American Guild of Organists, Chicago Brass Quintet, Gaudete Brass Quintet, Milwaukee Brass Quintet, Flannau Duo, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Avalon String Quartet, Lincoln Trio, and other acclaimed artists. She writes music for symphony orchestra, a congregational mass, libretto and opera, marimba concerto, hand drum concerto; chamber, choral, jazz, gospel, and dance ensembles; voice, flute, oboe d’amore, bass oboe, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, piano, and pipe organ.
Regina’s music and nonfiction are published by the Oxford University Press, Greenwood Press, Facts on File, Third World Press, and Center for Black Music Research Journal. Her poetry and fiction appear in Obsidian Journal, Modern Haiku, Chicago Tribune Magazine, Black Fire This Time II: University Press of Mississippi, Rat ‘N’ Rooster Journal of Speculative Fiction & Poetry, dadakuku journal, and elsewhere. She is profiled in the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, International Dictionary of Black Composers, International Trumpet Guild Journal, From Spirituals to Symphonies, Musical Landscapes in Color, Haiku Foundation, Chicago Reader, and elsewhere.
In 2010 Regina founded 6Degrees Composers to feature Womxn’s music. In 2004 she founded Haiku Festival to celebrate children, poetry, and literacy. Regina wrote Variations in Black Music, Indigo Sound, urban haiku, and blues haiku. She produced Hammers, Pipes & Strings CD, Kidstuff CD, and Percussing up a Storm CD. urban haiku appears in the film, “When Sistas Jump.” Regina appears on many CDs, including: Kaleidoscope, Soul of a Singer, Good News Falls Gently, Lifescapes: one woman’s journey, unto thee i burn, Where Freedom Rings and Piano Poems I-IV on Sara Cahill’s The Future is Female CD, vol.3. Regina wrote liner notes for the Amore e Tragedie in Musica CD and NoteSpeak 12 CD by Lisa Marie Simmons and Marco Cremaschino.
Regina served as a consultant and appeared in Dr. James Greesom’s Emmy-nominated documentary PBS film The Caged Bird: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price. Regina’s piano music, Deliverance, was commissioned for the PBS Access Contemporary Music’s “Songs About Buildings“ Project re: First Church of Deliverance in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood.
Regina received awards from 3Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, ASCAP, Lila Wallace, Art Institute of Chicago, Arts Midwest, Illinois Arts Council, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Chicago Public Library Foundation, Chicago Jazz Institute, Andrew Mellon Foundation, and Robert Rauschenberg. She is an alumna of New York, DePaul, and Roosevelt universities. Her poetry mentors include Illinois Poet Laureate, Dr. Gwendolyn Brooks. Regina studied music composition with Dr. Hale Smith.
Profile caption: Regina Harris Baiocchi, composer, author, poet Profile image by: Brian Warling photographer
Regina Harris Baiocchi, composer, author, poet
Audra Lange, WCO photographer
Featured Artworks
"Music of Hale Smith" CD cover
14 tracks: vocal, chamber, orchestral music
Hale Smith, Regina Harris Baiocchi
Regina is writing the official Hale Smith Biography.
“Evocation” © 1966
Hale Smith's 12-tone piano music, page 1
African American vernacular meets European tradition
"Hammers, Pipes & Strings" CD cover
15 tracks: piano solo, piano duo, organ, vocal music
"Contours" for orchestra © 1960
Hale Smith's autographed sheet music
"Contours" for orchestra © 1962
Hale Smith CD cover image by John Farren
Louisville Symphony Orchestra: YouTube
Regina Harris Baiocchi has crowd-funded a project with 3AP
-
- $5,307 raised of $5,000 goal
- 0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
Honoring the 10th anniversary of the Haiku Festival, which teaches poetry and promotes literacy for Chicago schoolchildren, this project will raise funds for a celebratory event featuring guest poet Sonia Sanchez.
Read more about Haiku Festival -
- $5,122 raised of $5,000 goal
- 0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
With Percussing Up a Storm, I am creating the first recording dedicated to my original music for percussion instruments. I love composing for percussion because it has an energy unlike any other kind of music. I feel a kinship …
Read more about Percussing Up a Storm -
- $7,046 raised of $7,000 goal
- 0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
Using interviews and archives, I am writing a memoir about Hale Smith, “the world’s most famous unknown composer.” Hale Smith’s music was recorded and performed by countless luminaries. Readers will laugh, cry, and revel in Hale’s illustrious life in this …
Read more about Hale Smith Memoir