Tom Barabas was an American-Hungarian pianist/keyboardist. He studied

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

at the

Caracas Conservatory Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern par ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

before developing a taste for rock, jazz, and New Age. He died in San Diego, California in the spring of 2020 at the age of 85 or 86.

Early life

Barabas was born in 1934 in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, where he spent his childhood. He began playing music at the age of four in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. By age 12, he had attracted the interest and praise of his piano instructors and he made his public debut at the Liszt Conservatory of Music. In 1949 his family emigrated to Venezuela where he studied classical piano and composition at the Venezuela Conservatory of Music in Caracas, earning his master's degree in 1957. In 1966, Barabas emigrated to the US, living and composing in

San Diego, California 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 ...

Live performance

Barabas's compositional style was distinguished by the influences of his classical Conservatory training, the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and Caribbean pop music of Venezuela and North American

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

. After a successful career performing daily on stage, radio and television in Venezuela, Barabas moved to San Diego in 1966 seeking greater opportunities. The Southern California music scene inspired and cultivated his interest in jazz and soon he was opening for figures such as

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...

and

Ramsey Lewis Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five RIAA certification, gold records and three Grammy Awards ...

. He later became the house pianist for a five-star resort, and it was during his tenure there that he began playing his own compositions.

Commercial success

Barabas released 12 CD's, three of which made the

Billboard Charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ' ...

. ''Sedona Suite'' charted number 12 and held that position for 29 weeks. Other albums of note include ''Wind Dancer'' (with Dean Evenson), reaching Billboard's Top-15, and ''Classica Nouveau'', which reached number 18 on Billboard's Top-20. Barabas and Dean Evenson enjoyed a long friendship and collaborated on several Soundings albums including ''Soaring'', ''WindDancer'', ''Back to the Garden'' and ''Healing Suite''. Barabas wrote and performed an original composition for the Heartkeys AIDS Benefit Concert and the Heartkeys album, and performed for the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. The ACS publishes the journals ''Cancer'', '' CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians'' and '' Cancer Cytopathology''. History The society w ...

and the AIDS Foundation of America. Some of his better known performance venues were the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

Red Rocks Amphitheater Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also known colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheater in the western United States near Morrison, Colorado, approximately southwest of Denver. It is owned and operated by the city of Denver. In addi ...

Delta Airlines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its largest in terms of total passengers and number of depart ...

and Princess Cruise Lines.

Discography

Studio albums *''Magic in December'' (1988) *''Sedona Suite'' (1992) *''Piano Impressions'' (1994) *''Classica Nouveau'' (1994) *''Mosaic'' (1995) *''Journey Back to Sedona'' (1996) *''It's a New Life'' (1998) *''Romantic Rhapsodies'' (1998) *''Tom Barabas Live'' (1999) *''Wedding in Heaven'' (1999) (compilation) *''Classical Healing'' (2000) *''Goodnight My Angel'' (2001) (compilation) *''The Very Best of'' (2004) (compilation) *''Christmas Classics On Piano'' (2015) (compilation) Tom Barabas and Dean Evenson *''Wind Dancer'' (1992) *''Soaring'' (1996) *''Back to the Garden'' (1997) *''Butterfly'' (2000) (compilation) *''Angel's Calling'' (2001) (compilation) *''A Gift for Mother'' (2003) *''Healing Suite'' (2009)

References

External links

Official websiteSoundings websiteWIND Solar Wind VideoDREAM Dolphin Dream VideoSPIRIT Free Spirit Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barabas, Tom 2020 deaths Hungarian emigrants to the United States American male pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American male musicians 1934 births