Elaine Barber began her study of the harp at the age of ten, and began playing professionally in her native Mississippi four years later. She earned her master’s degree at the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University, studying with Beatrice Rose. Ms. Barber is Principal Harpist for the Austin Symphony and Austin Lyric Opera. She has been a featured soloist at the American Harp Society National Conference, and with the Austin Symphony, the Mississippi Symphony, the Shepherd Symphony, and the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra. As an orchestral musician she has performed with Spoleto USA, the San Antonio Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, the Alabama Symphony, the Mississippi Symphony and Mississippi Opera. She performs with central Texas chamber music groups such as Cactus Pear Music Festival, Chamber Soloists of Austin, Musical Bridges Around the World, Musical Offerings, Round Top Festival, Salon Concerts, Texas Early Music Project, Victoria Bach Festival and Viola By Choice. She has recorded for the Naxos, Nonesuch and Matador labels, and has premiered solo and chamber works by James Sclater, P. Kellach Waddle and Gordon Jones. Ms. Barber maintains a private teaching studio in Austin and has been on the faculty of the Austin Chamber Music Center, the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, the Abilene Summer Music Festival, the University of Texas Harp Camp, and Mississippi College.

Reviews:

“In Danses sacree et profane, Debussy’s concerto for harp and string orchestra, soloist Elaine Barber, in possibly the high point of the concert, charmed the audience with clarity, technical excellence and healthy expressiveness.”
-- Austin American-Statesman

“Elaine Barber’s luscious sounds made for a flowing and strangely spirited melancholy -- a pleasing contradiction.... Ms. Barber’s exquisite harp solo developed the theme so entrancingly it seemed the audience stopped breathing.”
-- West Austin News

“Ms. Barber ... was no less than spellbinding. A natural and thoughtful musician, Barber also has an effortless technique. Her interpretation of the Ginastera, regarded as perhaps the finest work for solo harp, was like her red dress: vibrant.”
-- Mississippi Business Journal

“...strength, clarity, and expression.... The harp’s many virtues were aired by Barber’s many talents.... Her lovely strings talked, sang, fluttered and soared through lyric, dramatic, and exotic passages.”
-- Clarion-Ledger

“Elaine Barber’s performance was electrifying.... The colors she extracted from the harp seemed inexhaustible. The cadenza was simply gorgeous and the ensemble work between artist and orchestra was dead on.”
-- Northside Sun