Robert Barney
Voice, Organ, and Piano • Performer • Teacher • Choral Director • Church Musician
News
Music is central to my life, and has been for as long as I can remember. My earliest career ambitions centered around playing the organ, directing choirs and making music happen. The Choral Art is most remarkable. Inspiring people to lift up their voices together is the most satisfying thing that I do.
Recreating the composer's intention from the printed notes on a page in real time is the art of making music. Choral music, singing together, filling the entire body with the vibrations of sound, and sharing this with an audience is the earliest and, in some ways the most complex musical activity.
The organ is like the voice, in that it produces sound from vibrating air. Having 200, 2000 or 20,000 pipes at one's fingertips to produce a dynamic range to bring to life music - ancient or modern - for appreciation in the present moment, is like being able to view a painted masterpiece in a museum. The organ as
music leader is like the extension of my conducting arm through my fingertips. The organ's ability to lead singing and move emotions has given it a place in cathedral, theater, ball park, and arena.
Bio
Robert Barney, a resident of Littleton, Massachusetts, has distinguished himself as a singer, organist, conductor, and teacher with performances in Europe, Canada and the U.S. He has been a featured soloist in performance and/or recordings with the Seraphim Singers( tenor and countertenor), the St. Paul Experience Choir London, the Organ Historical Society, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and the American Guild of Organists. His expertise in chant is brought to bear in regular solo chant performances. As Artistic Director for The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus from 1985-1997, he led first performances of that group in Boston’s Jordan and Symphony Halls, Avery Fischer Hall in New York City, and similar halls in Minneapolis, Denver, and elsewhere. Mr Barney currently serves as Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church in Concord, Massachusetts, private teacher in organ, piano, and voice, and Artistic Director for Youth pro Musica in Newton, Massachusetts. Robert holds degrees from Concordia College, Bronxville, NY and The New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Massachusetts. His mentors included Robert Owen, Ralph Schultz, Frank Taylor, Donald Teeters, and Yuko Hayashi.
