| AMY BARBER | SCHOOL OF MUSIC FACULTY |
| Professor of Music | |
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Amy Lynn Barber is Professor of Music and former Dean of the School of Music at DePauw University. A native of Massachusetts, she lived for many years in central Europe (Prague, Ljubljana, and Vienna), where she was Professor of Percussion at the Prague Conservatory for five years, an active soloist and chamber performer, and a member of the Slovenian Philharmonic.
Her solo performances include many European festivals (Prague Spring, Zagreb Biennale, Melos Ethos, European Month of Culture, etc.) and recitals and concertos in major halls with groups such as the Slovenian Philharmonic, the Prague Chamber Philharmonie, and the Croatian Wind Symphony.
She has been a guest professor and performer at percussion courses and events in England, France, Germany, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy. Most recently, she was a guest artist at the International Percussion Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and performed in Finland as part of the Chamber Music Panorama of the Helsinki Philharmonic.
Ensembles which she has led have performed at PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention), Euro-PASIC, Massachusetts Music Educators Convention, Texas Music Educators Convention, and Indiana Music Educators Convention.
She has also had extensive experience as an orchestral percussionist, having played with many orchestras including the Springfield Symphony (MA), the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony, the Portland Symphony (ME), the Fort Worth Symphony (TX), the Prague Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony, and the Slovenian Philharmonic.
Her special interest is contemporary solo and chamber music, and she has commissioned, premiered, and recorded over 50 new solo and chamber works from European and American composers. She has received two Fulbright professorships, IREX and NEH grants, the National Award of the Czech National Music Council, and many other honors for her work in contemporary music, and has worked closely with composers including George Crumb, Augusta Read Thomas, John Cage, Karel Husa, Tania Leon, Jake Heggie, Marta Ptaszynska, Hans Werner Henze, and many others.
She is the founder and artistic director of The Percussion Plus Project, a unique contemporary chamber music group that has performed throughout central Europe and is now an ensemble-in-residence at DePauw University. In addition to its campus concerts, The Percussion Plus Project has performed in Chicago, Indianapolis, Orlando, Florida at the NITLE Contemporary Music Festival, at the International Womens Brass Conference in Illinois, and this year will be featured at the MTNA/Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Conference in Toronto, Canada. The ensemble is also working on several recording projects.
An artist/clinician for Zildjian and Yamaha, Dr. Barber has performed and lectured at universities throughout the United States, and has also been on the faculties of Texas Wesleyan University and the Interlochen Arts Academy, She has degrees from Boston University, the University of Massachusetts, and the Hartt School of Music, where she earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Her percussion teachers have included Alexander Lepak, Leigh Howard Stevens, Thomas Gauger, and Peter Tanner.
Email : albarber@depauw.edu
Office : Green Center for the Performing Arts 1111
Phone : (765) 658 - 6638