Barbara Kolb

Who is Barbara Kolb?

Barbara Kolb is an American composer. Her music uses sound masses and often creates vertical structures through simultaneous rhythmic or melodic units. She was the first American woman composer to win the Rome Prize. She received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Hartt College of Music at the University of Hartford, and studied with Arnold Franchetti and Gunther Schuller.

Her compositions include All in Good Time, commissioned for the 150th Anniversary of the New York Philharmonic, and Voyants, a concerto for piano and chamber orchestra dedicated to the memory of Aaron Copland. Voyants was most recently performed by Kathleen Supové with the Rhode Island College Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Edward Markward on October 16, 2006 in Providence, RI. Discs devoted solely to the music of Ms. Kolb have been released by CRI and New World Records. Her orchestral composition All in Good Time was recorded by the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Carlos Kalmar, along with works by John Corigliano, Aaron Jay Kernis, John Harbison and Michael Hersch on a CD released by Cedille Records in the summer of 2006.