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This Site Last Updated 26 December
2009
Paul Barker’s compositions include
orchestral works, choral works, vocal music, chamber music, percussion music, operas, music theatre, dance theatre and theatre
productions. Thirteen chamber operas – many of them recorded and televised – have been performed at major international
festivals in the UK and Mexico. The most recent, El Gallo, an opera without text for six actors and two string quartets has
received over 50 performances and been televised in Mexico. It will begin a European tour in 2010, including the Brighton
Festival, Hamburg and Brussels. Orchestral works include a Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, commissioned by the London Mozart
Players and premiered by Tasmin Little. An early orchestral work was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize. His clarinet
quintet, In Memoriam, was commissioned by the Brodsky Quartet and Joan Lluna in 2004 and has to date received many international
performances in Spain, Holland, Serbia, Ireland, London etc, and received outstanding reviews. In common with much of his
recent music, the element of performance, sometimes theatrical, plays a prominent role. He has received many commissions for
dance scores notably at the Edinburgh Festival and worked on over 50 theatrical productions internationally.
There are two CD’s available
of his music: Turquoise Swans (Sargasso 2000) containing compositions for voice and piano, recorded by the renowned soprano
Sarah Leonard, accompanied by the composer, and Entre Palabras (Quindecim 2005) which contains premiere recordings of Songs
Between Words and his operaThe Pillow Song.
He was born in Cambridge, England
and was a boy chorister at Jesus College, later graduating as pianist and composer from the Guildhall School of Music, obtaining
a Masters degree from Durham University and a Doctorate from Hertfordshire University, UK. Awards include a Countess of Munster
Trust Scholarship, Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust Scholarship, Arts and Humanities Research Award, the 2005 McElwee Family Fellowship
along with many commissions from Arts Council, England and internationally.M
He was founder and Artistic Director of Optemus (2003); Musical Director of Proteus
Theatre, Spirals Theatre (1993-8) and European Youth Theatre (1994-98); Composer in Association with London Mozart Players
(1994-6); Artistic Director Live Culture (ENO, 1995-6); Founder Chair of Opera & Music Theatre Forum (1993-94); Composer
in Residence, West Sussex (1990-1994): Artistic Director of Modern Music Theatre Troupe (1985-94). During July 2005, he was
resident composer at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, San Francisco. He is currently Professor of Music Theatre at Central
School of Speech & Drama, University of London, UK.
His book, Composing for Voice, was published by Routledge in 2004. He has also contributed two articles to the OUP Encyclopedia
of Peace (2010), and a chapter in Devised & Collaborative Theatre (Crowood Press, 2002). He regularly presents papers
at university conferences in the UK and abroad.
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