Barker, Thomas E., 1954-1988

Thomas E. Barker (1954-1988) was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He began playing the guitar and composing music at around age nine. He discovered the music of Varése and Stravinsky at age 16, as well as the jazz musicians John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, and Don Ellis. He also became enamored of the music of Schoenberg, Webern and Charles Wuorinen, with whom Barker eventually studied in New York. He played jazz, blues and country music with small groups in Atlanta, and he lived in Nashville briefly before moving to New York. There, Barker earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the Juilliard School. He also studied for four years at the Manhattan School of Music, and received a D.M.A. from Columbia University in 1984. In addition to Wuorinen, Barker studied with Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Jack Beeson, and Chou Wen-Chung.

Barker was a devotee of the twelve-tone/serial method of composition. He composed more than fifty published works, beginning in his teens. Among his major compositions is the Four Sets for Orchestra, which was performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1986. Prior to his death, he was an adjunct professor of the Department of Music at Mercy College, in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and board president of the New York New Music Ensemble. He was also a member of the Group for Contemporary Music, as well as its recording engineer.

With his wife, the violinist Diana Smith-Barker, he founded and directed Zaccho, Inc., a nonprofit publishing and production concern, which published and continues to promote his music. Barker died of bone cancer at the age of 33. A memorial concert of his solo, ensemble, and choral works was held in February 1988 at Symphony Space.

Sources:

American Academy of Arts and Letters Composers Award Recording. New World Records NWCR661. Liner notes by Eugene Kurtz.

From the guide to the Thomas E. Barker papers, 1968-1997, 1968-1987, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)