Julius Baker, principal flutist of the New York Philharmonic for 18 years and a Juilliard faculty member since 1954, died on August 6. He was 86 and lived in Brewster, N.Y.

The most prominent American flutist of his generation, Baker was known for his bright tone and rhythmic precision in a range of repertory from baroque to contemporary. His career spanned more than 60 years, and his many recordings include the complete Bach and Handel flute works and the Mozart concertos.

Born in Cleveland in 1915, Baker studied with William Kincaid at the Curtis Institute and joined the Cleveland Orchestra under Arthur Rodzinski after his graduation in 1937. He was lured away by Fritz Reiner to become principal flutist of the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1941, but his stay was brief; he left in 1943 to join the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) Symphony Orchestra in New York, under the leadership of Bernard Herrmann. While with the CBS Symphony, Baker became one of the founding members of the Bach Aria Group in 1946, performing and recording with them for two decades. His work with that ensemble did much to increase awareness of Bach's little-known cantata literature.

Read a tribute to Julius Baker by Barli Nugent, a former student and assistant dean and director of chamber music at Juilliard.

When the CBS Symphony disbanded, Baker made a brief stop in the Chicago Symphony (1951-53) before arriving at Juilliard in 1954. Among his former students are New York Philharmonic principal flutist Jeanne Baxtresser and associate principal Sandra Church; soloists Paula Robison, Gary Schocker, and Eugenia Zukerman; Philadelphia Orchestra principal Jeffrey Khaner, and Cleveland Orchestra principal Joshua Smith. Baker became principal flute of the New York Philharmonic in 1964 under Leonard Bernstein, continuing his tenure under the directorships of Pierre Boulez and Zubin Mehta. He retired in 1983 to devote more time to teaching and solo concertizing, which took him all over the U.S. and abroad. (Baker also taught at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1980 until this year, and gave frequent master classes elsewhere.)

In 1999, Baker donated his entire collection of flute music—1,900 scores, 275 unpublished manuscripts, and numerous rare books and first editions—to Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace Library. Among his many awards and honors, he was presented with an honorary doctorate by the School last May.