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www.stephenbarr.com
Profile
Stephen Barr is a composer and arranger working in the greater Pittsburgh, PA area. His music has been performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra (Tampa, FL), the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra and Aspen Contemporary Ensemble (Aspen, CO), and the Three Rivers Choral Society (Pittsburgh, PA), among others. He holds degrees in Music Composition from Westminster College (New Wilmington, PA) and the University of South Florida, and the DMA in Music Composition from West Virginia University. His composition teachers were John Beall, David Taddie, James Lewis, Douglas Starr, and David Williams. He is also an accomplished conductor, having studied with Kathleen Shannon, Don Wilcox, and William Wiedrich.
He has been a resident at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, working with composer Robert Ashley, and attended the Susan and Ford Schumann Film Scoring Program at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, CO, where he studied film scoring with John Corigliano, Jack Smalley, and Jeff Rona.
Stephen composes contemporary film and game music in orchestral and electronic styles, as well as music for choirs, wind bands, orchestras, and chamber groups. In all of his work, Stephen seeks to strike a balance between artistry and accessibility—writing music that is challenging and intriguing for performers, but enjoyable and understandable to the audience. He is also an accomplished orchestrator and has created large-scale arrangements for the Imperial Symphony Orchestra (Lakeland, FL), the Sarasota Ballet, and the Florida West Coast Symphony (Sarasota, FL), as well as churches and schools in the Tampa Bay area.
Stephen has taught music courses at West Virginia University, University of South Florida, University of Tampa, Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, and Sickles High School in Tampa, FL. Currently, he teaches music theory and technology and directs the choral program at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, PA.
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