Seymour Barab

Seymour Barab (born January 9, 1921 in Chicago, Illinois – died June 28, 2014 in Manhattan) was an American composer of opera, songs, instrumental, and chamber music, as well as a cellist, organist, and pianist. He was known for his fairy tale operas for young audiences, such as Chanticleer and Little Red Riding Hood. He was a longtime member of the Philip Glass Ensemble.

Seymour Barab was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 21, 1921 to Samuel Barab and Leah Yablunky. Although both Barab’s parents were Polish immigrants, the two did not meet until they had both moved to the United States separately. After they were married they gave birth in 1913 to Seymour’s older brother, Abraham, who would later change his name to Oscar. Seymour’s father also changed his name in later years to Leo, however it is unclear why either family member changed their given names. Growing up, the Barab family had little money, but that did not hinder Seymour Barab’s musical education. In an interview with James Moore, Barab stated, “I was given piano lessons beginning at an early age, because, although we were poor, we were very cultured people. The household names in our house were Paderewski, Galli-Curci and it was only natural that I would be given piano lessons.” Barab started lessons with his aunt, Gertrude Yablunky, at a young age. Although his aunt was not a professional pianist or teacher, Barab felt that he “got something from her.”

When Barab was thirteen he started his first musical job as an organist for a church of spiritual healing that his aunt attended. According to Barab, “… I played just about well enough so that when this pastor of the church asked my aunt, who she knew was a little bit of a musician, if she knew anybody who could do soft organ playing, she recommended me.” Barab did not learn the cello until he entered Lane Tech High School in Chicago, Illinois in 1935. A rare high school for the time, Lane Tech offered a four-year music program that Barab was eager to enroll in, but in order to do so I had to learn an orchestral instrument. He decided to learn the cello for one simple reason: “…They happened to need cellos. If they had needed a French horn player, I’d be a French horn player,” Barab stated in an interview with William McCrary. At this time, Barab began taking lessons with the high school orchestra conductor. While at Lane Tech Barab became friends with Ben Weber and George Perle, both of whom would go on to become well known contemporary composers. Together, in 1938, the three founded the New Music Group of Chicago “which was organized with the sole purpose of performing contemporary (20th-Century) music.” The group premiered their own compositions in addition to works by other contemporary composers. Most notably, they gave the Chicago premier of Bela Bartok’s First String Quartet. With the founding of this group, Barab became a lifelong champion of contemporary music. In an interview in 2000, Barab described the impact Ben Weber and George Perle had on his life, "These two guys were very influential in my life, because I learned from them. I learned all about music, really. It gave me something to be dedicated to, unplayed music by talented composers. Of course we were all very young then. I just decided that this was what I wanted to do, rather than play the concerto repertoire and the sonata repertoire."

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