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BIOGRAPHY
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music of New York City based composer, James Barry has been described
as “immediately engaging and distinctly American,” "an emotional
rollercoaster," and “truly moving." A receipient of the 2001 Charles
Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters his
opera, orchestra, ballet, dance, theater, and chamber music scores are
heard across the US each season. James has been the recipient of numerous awards, prizes, and commissions including: the 2001 Charles Ives Scholarship, ASCAP, Meet The Composer, the American Music Center, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Dayton Ballet’s New Music for New Dance, Opera On Tap, the Holyoke Civic Symphony, the Chicago Ensemble, Auros Group for New Music, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra's Fresh Ink, the SCI/ASCAP Student Composition Commission, The Commission Project, CASE Arts Group, and CelloSpeak among others. Fall 2012 will see the premiere of SMASHED: The Carrie Nation Story, a new one-act opera with librettist Timothy Braun commissioned by Opera On Tap. Nation’s unique method of dealing with drinkers and the bars where they congregate, will be taken on tour to the organization’s seven national chapters in 2012-2013. Other upcoming activities include a repeat performance of Snapshot by David Kidwell and the Holyoke Civic Symphony Fall 2011, a new work for the Brandon High School Orchestra’s 45th Anniversary to premiere February 2012, and performances of CRUSH by the Omaha, NE based flute/percussion duo Zephyrus. Notable recent activities: EXPANSION, an orchestral work for ballet, was premiered on the Dayton Ballet’s New Music for New Dance project in March 2011, choreographed by Cydney Spohn; SUCKER, presented on American Opera Projects, Opera Grows in Brooklyn showcase at Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY; the premiere of Afterglow, a new concert band work, at Kutztown University; an arrangement of Always On My Mind for soprano Cameron Russell, OPERA ELVIS: A Lament for the King, produced by Opera on Tap & Anti Social Music at City Winery (NYC); expanding circles a new cello choir piece, commissioned by Cellospeak; performances of short stories by saxophonists Jeremy Justeson & Stacy Maugans, including the 2010 North American Saxophone Alliance Conference; incidental and dance music for the Xoregos Performing Company’s (NYC) production of Shipwrecked, a play by Adam Kraar. Orchestra and band versions of Snapshot, continue to be programmed each year since its premiere by the Tallahassee Symphony Youth Orchestra, conducted by Alex Jimènez: The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Holyoke Civic Symphony, Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, Sacramento Youth Symphony, Tennessee Tech University Orchestra, Northeastern University Concert Band, Florida State University Symphonic Band, and the Kutztown University Concert Band among others. Over the past few seasons James’ music has been premiered and performed by numerous groups and organizations including: the Society for New Music, Sirius String Quartet, Esterhazy Quartet, Opera on Tap’s New Brew Series; sopranos Rachel Cobb, Jacquelyn Familant and Amberleigh Aller; Reizen Ensemble, Le Nuove Musiche, Forecast Music, Iktus Percussion Quartet, Heartland Community Flute Choir, and the Make Music New York Festival, National Flute Association National Conference, College Music Society National Conference, and Florida Flute Fair. James was born in Newport, RI and grew up in the Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. From 2004-2010, he produced contemporary music concerts in New York City as artistic & managing director of the Forecast Music. An educator for several years, James was an adjunct composition faculty member at the University of Florida and an assistant instructor at Florida State University. He received a DM in composition from Florida State University, a MM in composition from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BM in composition and classical guitar performance from the University of South Florida. He has studied composition with Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Lewis Spratlan, Dan Welcher, Donald Grantham, Ladislav Kubik, Stephen Montague, Mark Schultz, James Lewis, and Paul Reller. |
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| Copyright © 2011 by James Barry | |||||