Robert Barto (born 1950s in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

) is an American

lutenist A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" commonly r ...

specializing in the music of the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

and Empfindsamkeit periods, in particular the ''oeuvres'' of

Sylvius Leopold Weiss Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist. Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, Weiss was one of the most important and most prolific composers of lute m ...

and Bernhard Joachim Hagen.

Biography

He is a graduate of the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

, having majored in historical lute performance. The recipient of a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

, he continued his studies in

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, Germany and at the

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) is a music academy and research institution located in Basel, Switzerland, that focuses on early music and historically informed performance. Faculty at the school have organized performing ensembles that hav ...

in Switzerland, with Michael Schäffer and Eugen Müller-Dombois, respectively. Having made

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

his home for many years, he travels and performs throughout the world. In 1984, Barto took top honors at the "International Lute Competition" in Toronto and the competition

Musica Antiqua Bruges The MA Festival Brugge, short for the festival Musica Antiqua Bruges in Bruges, Belgium, is a festival of early music and historically informed performances, started in 1960. The program includes concerts, master classes, conferences, visits in t ...

, Belgium. His performances of note have included solo recitals at the Festival of Flanders, London's

Purcell Room The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats. The Purcell Ro ...

, the

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Festival, and in New York City's "Music Before 1800" event. In 2000, Barto performed a tribute to

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. He also gave solo recitals for Bavarian Radio's "Bach Night" in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

as well as the "

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

Baroque Festival" also held in London. He is greatly sought-after as a teacher, having given master classes in Spain, Sweden, Germany, Italy and Japan. He has regularly been on the faculty of the Lute Society of America's Summer Seminar series.Barto, Robert, biography, Naxos.com
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Discography

Barto has recorded eleven volumes of lute sonatas by baroque lutenist-composer Sylvius Leopold Weiss and two CDs of the solo works of Bernhard Joachim Hagen for the Naxos and Symphonia labels. Barto also recorded a part of soundtrack of an audiovisual installation by the Ukrainian artist and composer

Roman Turovsky-Savchuk Roman Mykhailovych Turovsky-Savchuk (born May 16, 1961) is an American artist-painter, photographer and videoinstallation artist, as well as a lutenist-composer,

.Roman Turovsky "Dialogues with Time", VOICES (The Journal of New York Folklore), Fall-Winter 2011, volume 37: 3-4, p.11

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barto, Robert American classical musicians 1950s births Living people American performers of early music University of California, San Diego alumni Schola Cantorum Basiliensis alumni American lutenists Year of birth missing (living people)