Robert Barto (born 1950's in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

) 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" can refe ...

specializing in the music of the Baroque 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, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. Until ...

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 or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, 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

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, 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 (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

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 ...

, 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 Roo ...

, the

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

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

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

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

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

as well as the "

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...

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 Turovsky-Savchuk (Ukrainian: Роман Туровський-Савчук) 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 Fulbright alumni