Landis Portraits: Mark Baptiste

By Nolan Marciniec

Mark Baptiste

Mark Baptiste’s unique blend of folk music and clas­sic Amer­i­can songs is famil­iar to con­cert­go­ers at the Lan­dis music series. But the tran­si­tion from can­cer research to music is no doubt unfa­mil­iar to Arbore­tum mem­bers, and indeed to all his fans.

In 2007, Mark retired from a more than three-decade career that includ­ed not only med­ical research, but also work for the New York State Depart­ment of Health and teach­ing epi­demi­ol­o­gy at SUNY Albany. Since then he has had the time to devote him­self to both writ­ing and per­form­ing music. Music is a lot more fun than epi­demi­ol­o­gy,” he said. 

You might say that I came to music nat­u­ral­ly,” he added. His father was a clas­si­cal pianist who put aside music to make a liv­ing. Mark nev­er heard him play until the fam­i­ly acquired a piano when Mark was in his teens – and he was blown away.” In high school, Mark began play­ing the gui­tar, and like his father put aside his tal­ent due to the demands of fam­i­ly and career.

One might say that he found his way to the Arbore­tum nat­u­ral­ly” too. He cred­its his wife Jan, a ded­i­cat­ed gar­den­er, as the dri­ving force since she appre­ci­at­ed the Arboretum’s plant sales. Then Mark was invit­ed to par­tic­i­pate in Lan­dis’ active musi­cal scene. The cou­ple has always found peace and beau­ty at Lan­dis, par­tic­u­lar­ly walk­ing to the Old Growth For­est and pass­ing the Great Oak. The trees have been here for so long .… [I am ] remind­ed how small we human beings are, how tiny a part of Nature we are. It puts you into per­spec­tive,” he mused. 

His par­ents moved from sun­ny San Diego to the North­east when he was a child – and I nev­er for­gave them,” he quipped, adding that he and his wife had his and hers snow blow­ers” to deal with the harsh win­ters at their home in Delan­son. Yet it was in the North­east that Mark met Jan at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts at Amherst dur­ing fresh­man ori­en­ta­tion. We’re as close to high school sweet­hearts as you can get,” he said, not­ing that Jan has inspired many of his songs.

Nature is also fea­tured in many of them. The beau­ty of the Schoharie Val­ley in par­tic­u­lar was the moti­va­tion for tunes such as In These Hills” and O Schoharie.” Even the dis­agree­able win­ter has yield­ed a song: Even Snow Can Be Pretty.” 

Per­form­ing at the Arboretum’s Meet­ing House, with its expan­sive view of the Val­ley, seems a nat­ur­al fit for Mark. He is as appre­cia­tive of his audi­ence here as they are of him. They come here to lis­ten .… to the words as well as the music,” he said. He, too, comes to lis­ten to the musi­cians whom he most admires. 

While the Bap­tistes have relo­cat­ed to Half­moon to be clos­er to the newest of their three grand­chil­dren, Mark insist­ed that they will con­tin­ue to vis­it the Arbore­tum and active­ly par­tic­i­pate in its programs.

Some of us take that road less trav­eled” – or the detours. In Mark’s case, both have led him to music – and the Arboretum.


Winter 2017

Volume 35 , Number 1

Share this

The Latest from Landis

Mar 14, 2023

Picturing Landis through the year

Scenic Landis Arboretum just begs to be captured by photographers, professionals and amateurs alike. Enjoy... read more

Mar 14, 2023

2022 Annual Report

View or Download read more

Mar 14, 2023 | Nolan Marciniec

Re-thinking Garden Pests

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything... read more

Mar 14, 2023 | Fred Lape, founder of the George Landis Arboretum

Barn Swallows

In this poem, Arboretum founder Fred Lape calls our attention to the “commonplace” miracle of... read more

Mar 14, 2023 | Anita Sanchez

Things Are Looking Up

Tree canopy -- Anita Sanchez Long ago I worked at a nature center, leading walks... read more

Mar 14, 2023 | Laurie Freeman

S-L-O-W Birding: A Primer for Beginners

Are you considering birding? Perhaps you’ve heard that birding is a great way to enjoy... read more

News Archive