Barry Sharp’s compositions gather melodic threads and harmonic fabrics into immersive textures. His process is deeply improvisational, with each part of the music shaped by ear, yet always anchored in meta-structures and underlying symbolism.
Barry has been performed by ensembles including JACK Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, TAK Ensemble, Amalgama, Bienen Early/Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, [Switch~ Ensemble], sTem, The Princeton Singers, OSSIA Ensemble, Un/Pitched, Ithaca New Music Collective, Cornell Orchestras, Cornell Wind Symphony, and Cornell Chamber Singers. His accolades include a New Music USA Project Grant, Cornell Council for the Arts Biennial Grant, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award, The American Prize, Cornell Council for the Arts, New Music on the Point, Henry and Parker Pelzer Award in Composition, and the Barbara Cochran Breazeale Fellowship.
Barry is a member of the Song Sessions Collective, a group of four improvisors who perform an ever-changing work based on the structure of whale songs. The collective won a grant from New Music USA in 2019 and a residency at MISE-EN_Place, Bushwick in 2018. He also performs with composer Sergio Cote in the experimental duo etc, [ee-tee-see]. Their sound-based-experimental-performance-art involves creating pieces through a rebellious and democratic approach to sound.
Barry received his D.M.A. in composition from Cornell University where he studied with Kevin Ernste, Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, and Roberto Sierra. He also holds degrees in music from Murray State University (B.M.) and the University of Iowa (M.A.). Barry currently teaches his own private composition studio and teaches music at the William Cramp School in Philadelphia.