American Composer Samuel Barber Was Born in 1910

One of the most expressive representatives of the lyric and Romantic traditions of 20th-century classical music, Barber is recognized as one of the great American composers

Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Barber started his musical studies on the piano before studying composition.

He entered The Curtis Institute of Music in 1924 at the age of 14, where he studied singing and conducting in addition to piano and composition. After completing his studies at Curtis, he devoted himself solely to composition.

Many of his works were commissioned or premiered by orchestras and artists such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, Vladimir Horowitz, Francis Poulenc, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, to name a few.

His signature works include Adagio for Strings, a cello sonata and concerto, and his Violin Concerto Op. 14 – a much-loved standard in today's concert and competition repertoire. His Adagio for Strings in particular gained popularity in the United States and Europe and was performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. 

Barber wrote a significant amount of instrumental music, but much of his compositional output consisted of art songs and choral music.

His opera, Vanessa, was produced by the Metropolitan Opera Association and awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

VC ARTIST YU-CHIEN BENNY TSENG | BARBER | VIOLIN CONCERTO OP. 14 | SHAO CHIA LÜ & TAIWAN PHILHARMONIC