Jennifer Margaret Barker
Jennifer Margaret Barker's compositions have been performed and commissioned by, most notably, The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra with the St. Louis Children's Chorus, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra with the New Jersey Youth Choirs, and The Virginia Symphony with The Virginia Children’s Chorus, The Fort Collins Symphony, The Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra with the Central Illinois Children's Chorus, The Lynchburg Symphony with Cantate Children’s and Youth Choir of Central Virginia, The Bearsden Choir with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Brass and Percussion Ensembles, The Newark Symphony Orchestra, The University of Delaware Symphony Orchestra, The Bay Youth Symphony (Virginia), Orchestra da Camera of the San Domenico School Music Conservatory, The University of Delaware Chorale, The Children’s Chorus of Maryland, Colorado State University Concert Orchestra, Vocal de Cámara Platense (Argentinian), The Scottish Chamber Orchestra String Quartet and String Trio, Orchestra 2001, Relâche, Network for New Music, Society for New Music, Mélomanie, 6-WIRE, Marimolin, Vocali3e, Luna Nova, Del’Arte Woodwind Quintet, Newprism Ensemble, Women in Music-Columbus, Colorado College Woodwind Quintet, Christiana Winds, Trio Arundel, The Taggart-Grycky Duo, Musica Nova, The Holywell Ensemble, Duo Pegasus, as well as an extensive list of international concert artists, including Martin Jones, Alice K. Dade, John Novacek, Sharon Harms, John McMurtery, Kevin Robert Orr, Heather Corbett, Christopher Nichols, Grant Youngblood, Howard Watkins, Ivano Ascari, Leonardo Carrieri and Francesca Hurst.
Her compositions have been featured on documentary and art films, including “No Denying” and "A Box of Whistles", and promotional films such as "An Autumn Day in the Hagley Powder Yard", for the Hagley Museum and Library. Her compositions have also been exhibited as music-video art in galleries such as Philadelphia's Crane Arts, and utilized as musical underscoring for theatrical productions, such as a production of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' in Mumbai, India. To date, her works have been performed in China (mainland and Hong Kong), Japan, Thailand, India, Australia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, Malta, The Czech Republic, Slovenia, Canada, Israel, Argentina and Brazil, as well as in the United Kingdom (Scotland, England and Wales) and the United States. Barker has also been invited to present lectures on her works and composition masterclasses at festivals, conferences, universities and conservatories, in Malta, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and England, as well as in the States and her native Scotland.
Among her recent composition awards are the 2025 LunART Call for Scores Winner; the 2022 Miriam Gideon Prize from the International Alliance for Women in Music; the 2022 New Ariel Piano Composition Competition winner; the 2021 Masters Fellowship Award from the Delaware Division of the Arts for artistic excellence and contributions to the State of Delaware; three awards, in 2023, 2020 and 2019 from The American Prize; and the 2018 Pi Kappa Lambda Chamber Work Commission winner. In addition to international awards, Barker has received grants from organizations such as The National Endowment for the Arts, The Scottish Arts Council, Creative Scotland, the Pew Charitable Trust, the American Composers Forum, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Norfolk (USA) Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Meir Rimon Commissioning Assistance Grant, the Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, the Philadelphia Music Project, and the Delaware Division of the Arts.
Published by Boosey & Hawkes, Theodore Presser and McKenna-Keddie Publishing, Barker has received numerous broadcasts of her compositions on American public radio (including 'Performance Today'), Canadian radio, Hong Kong radio, Swedish radio and the BBC.
Two CDs are dedicated solely to Barker’s chamber compositions: Composers Recordings Inc.'s Nyvaigs CD which is currently distributed by New World Records, and Meyer Media's Geenyoch CD which includes a bonus DVD featuring four music videos created by British cameraman John Anthony Palmer. Further ensembles and soloists who have recorded Barker's compositions on CD and DVD include 6-WIRE (Meyer Media, Tian Tian), Vocali3e (Meyer Media), Mélomanie (Meyer Media), Virginia Children's Chorus, pianist Martin Jones (PnOVA), flutist Alice K. Dade (Naxos), and clarinetist Christopher Nichols (Albany). In addition, an extensive video recording catalog of Barker’s compositions is published online.
As a William Penn Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, she received the Ph.D. and Masters degrees in music composition. She received two Masters degrees in piano performance and music composition respectively from Syracuse University, and an Honors Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. She was a composition student of American Pulitzer-prize winners George Crumb, Melinda Wagner and Richard Wernick, as well as Jay Reise, James Primosch, and Daniel S. Godfrey. In addition, she studied with British composers, Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies, Judith Weir and John Maxwell Geddes. As a pianist, she studied with Anne Crawford, Gusztáv Fenyö and Lawrence Glover (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; formerly RSAMD), and with Greek-American pianist, George Pappastavrou, and Canadian pianist, Gary Spielstead. She studied violin with J. Mullen Begbie (Concertmaster of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra) and Angus Andersen (Concertmaster of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra), and oboe with Phillip Hill (Principal Oboist with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra). She studied organ with Scottish organist, Gerald Walker.
Barker is a Professor Emerita at the University of Delaware. She is the recipient of the 2022 University of Delaware College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Scholarship Award. Born and raised in Stirlingshire, Scotland, Barker has split her time between Scotland and America since 1987. In addition to composing, Barker is active as a collaborative pianist.
"extraordinarily moving", "illuminated by dreamy images" - The Scotsman
Festivals/conferences in which her music has been featured during the past decade include:
- 2025 Hitchin Festival, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, ENGLAND
- 2025 LunART Festival, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- 2024 Belvedere Chamber Music Festival, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- 2023 International Double Reed Society Conference, Bangkok, THAILAND
- 2023 International Clarinet Association's ClarinetFest, Denver, Colorado, USA
- 2023 Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention, Washington, DC, USA
- 2022 SHE Festival of Women in Music, University of Arkansas, USA
- 2022 Victoria International Arts Festival, Gozo, MALTA
- 2021 National Flute Association Convention, online (postponed from 2020 due to COVID-19)
- 2021 Victoria International Arts Festival, Gozo, MALTA
- 2021 Society of Composers Inc. National Conference, online
- 2019 National Flute Association Convention, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
- 2019 Society of Composers Inc. National Conference, New Mexico, USA
- 2018 Pi Kappa Lambda Centennial Anniversary Convention, Washington, DC, USA
- 2018 Victoria International Arts Festival, Gozo, MALTA
- 2018 Belvedere Chamber Music Festival, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- 2018 Society of Composers Inc. Region III Conference, Newport News, Virginia, USA
- 2018 PRIZM International Chamber Music Festival, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- 2018 Society of Composers Inc. Region III Conference, Virginia, USA
- 2017 Women in Music Symposium, Denver, Colorado, USA
- 2017 LIU Post Chamber Music Festival, Long Island, New York, USA
- 2016 Victoria International Arts Festival, Gozo, MALTA
- 2016 Belvedere Chamber Music Festival, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- 2016 International Clarinet Association's ClarinetFest, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
- 2015 Victoria International Arts Festival, Gozo, MALTA
- 2015 Belvedere Chamber Music Festival, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- 2015 National Flute Association Convention, Washington, DC, USA
- 2015 5th European Clarinet Festival, Ghent, BELGIUM
- 2015 Wintermezzo series of Festival Mozaic, San Luis Obispo, California, USA
- 2014 Festival Internacional Compositores de Hoje, Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL
- 2014 Odyssey Chamber Music Series, Columbia, Missouri, USA
- 2013 Colorado College Visiting Distinguished Composers Festival, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
- 2013 Edinburgh International Arts Festival Fringe, Edinburgh, SCOTLAND
