Dr. Baker Purdon
Director of Music Ministry
Dr. Baker L. Purdon is an American Prize Winning conductor and music educator currently serving as the Director of Music Ministry at Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, CO. His experience includes music ministry in numerous faith traditions, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, and Jewish congregations. He also taught in public and private schools for nearly ten years before moving to Colorado. During his academic years, he was awarded the 2022 Presser Foundation Graduate Music Award, which enabled him to record his critically lauded debut album, Walking Through the Valley: Choral Music from Black Composers, 1919-2022. This album included the first commercial recordings of pieces by Harry T. Burleigh and Adolphus Hailstork, and the first studio recording of portions of Margaret Bonds’ Credo. In the same year, he was also named the inaugural Presser Foundation Graduate Music Fellow. In that role, he visited performing arts organizations, consulted on ABDEI for the Foundation, and supported an expansion of music scholar grants to HBCUs and HSIs.
He received BFAs in Theater and Voice Performance from The University of Kansas, an M.Ed. from The University of Central Missouri, continuing education credits from Westminster Choir College, and a Ph.D. in Music Education and Choral Conducting from Temple University. Dr. Purdon currently resides in Denver, CO with his siblings and two cats, Helen and Edith.