Jasmine Barnes is a promising young composer and vocalist whose work has been performed all over the world. A multi-faceted composer, she embraces a variety of genres, formats and instrumentations with a specialty of writing for the voice.
Barnes is currently a composer-in-residence for American Lyric Theater. Barnes previously held residencies as a composer fellow at Chautauqua Opera and composer-in-residence with All Classical Portland. Her work is in high demand, with recent commissions from respected institutions nationwide, including Washington National Opera (to celebrate the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary), Bare Opera, Resonance Ensemble, Tapestry Choir, City Works Cleveland, LyricFest Philadelphia, Baltimore Choral Arts, Burleigh Music Festival, Symphony Number One, Baltimore Musicales and the Voic(ed) Project, among others.
Upcoming engagements includes the world premiere of Plumshaga at STAGES Houston, an arrangement of spirituals commissioned by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to debut at Carnegie Hall, performed by Karen Slack and Will Liverman, and a new song cycle commissioned by tenor Russell Thomas to be performed at LA Opera. Other recent commissions include Might Call You Art for CityMusic Cleveland, Portraits: Douglass & Tubman for Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Maternità for Takesha Meshé Kizart and Anima Mundi Productions, and I Will Follow You Into the Dark with American Lyric Theatre.
Her 10-minute opera titled The Late Walk, commissioned by Bare Opera as a part of the Decameron Opera Coalition, has been archived in the Library of Congress. Examples of The Late Walk are used as a subject and study feature in the book Narrative Oper by Sonja Dierks. Barnes received the 2021 Florence Price Award for composition, won the Black Brilliance Award from the Pleiades Project, was recognized as the Gwendolyn J. Brinkley Fine Arts first-place winner of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. South Central Region 2021 and named a finalist of All Classical Portland Recording Inclusivity Initiative.
Her catalog of works are frequently performed by high-profile artists and organizations, including Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra, Portland Opera, Tulsa Opera, Hampsong Foundation (at the Elbphilharmonie), Tennessee State University Meistersingers, University of North Iowa, University of Memphis, Indiana University (graduate song literature class), Karen Slack, Leah Hawkins, Leona Mitchell, Marquita Lister, Gabrielle Gilliam, Alexandria Crichlow and Christian Simmons, among others.
She received a bachelor of arts and master of arts in music from Morgan State University in Baltimore, where she was a composition student under Dr. James Lee III. She was the very first composition major at Morgan State and hosted the first composition recital, setting the bar high for those to follow.
An established educator, Barnes is the former head of compositional studies and jazz voice studies at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. Her work as an educator has garnered many accolades. She is a five-time recipient of National Young Arts Foundation’s Educator Award, a Teacher Recognition Award recipient from American Composers Forum and a NextNotes High School Music Creator Competition winner. Additionally, she partnered with AT&T Performing Arts Center in creating a composition competition for her students to create a piece about the chandelier in the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, home of Dallas Opera.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
