Barbara Kolb Biography

Barbara Kolb (b. Hartford, Connecticut, February 10, 1939) is an American composer. Her music uses sound masses and often creates vertical structures through simultaneous rhythmic or melodic units (motifs or figures). Barbara's musical styling can be identified by her use of colorful textures, impressionistic touch, and atonal vocabulary, with influences stemming from literary and visual arts. She was the first American woman composer to win the Rome Prize. She received her B.M. (cum laude, 1961) and M.M. degrees (1964) from the Hartt College of Music (now The Hartt School) at the University of Hartford, and studied with Arnold Franchetti, Lukas Foss and Gunther Schuller. Following her various degrees, Kolb relocated to Vienna, Austria from 1966-1967 with a Fulbright Fellowship grant. She was the first female American composer to win the Rome Prize [Prix de Rome], in 1969. From 1979 - 1982, Kolb served as the artistic director of contemporary music at the Third Street Music School Settlement, where she presented the "Music New to New York" concert series. Additionally, she has had a professional teaching career teaching at Rhode Island College and Eastman School of Music as a visiting professor in Composition. A selection of Barbara's compositions were featured at the Kennedy Center, performed by the "Theatre Chamber Players" as part of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. However, Kolb was not only known as a composer; but she was also proficient at the Eb clarinet.