Rich Barry

Rich Barry is an extraordinary musician forging his path into the elite guitarists of the world today. He has been praised by the last direct pupil of Andrés Segovia as "a truly innovative musician of the twenty first century” and is ranked by Google on the first page search results for the word guitarist. He has recently captivated critics and audiences with notable performances in Washington DC, London, Paris, Toronto, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Boston. His life has solely been dedicated to the guitar with over one thousand performances at a wide variety of venues and halls. Notable performance venues of Rich Barry include the Peggy and Yale Gordon Center for Performing Arts, The Kennedy Center, American Academy of the Arts and Sciences, The Embassy of Canada, Salle Françoys-Bernier Hall, Andrew Mellon Auditorium, George Washington Memorial Hall, The Carnegie Institute, The Peabody Institute, Vizcaya Museum, The John F Kennedy Estate in Georgetown, The Embassy of Florida, Acadeny of Art Museum and The Frank Lloyd Wright Pope-Leighey House. Rich Barry’s dedication and passion of performance is equally matched with his advocacy of arts and music. In 2010 he was invited to perform at the second annual National Cultural Heritage Exchange in Washington DC. This exchange on Capitol Hill brought together ten federal agencies and twelve national entities including the National Endowment for the Arts and The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He has donated his time and performances with outreach work through the Candlelight Concert Society, Elev8, Every Man Theatre, The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, and The Ronald McDonald Foundation. In honor of his veteran father who supported and nurtured his musical career Rich Barry also uses his abilities as an avenue of appreciation to members of the military. He has performed at Dam Neck Annex, Fort George Meade Officers Club, Joint Base Fort Myer-Henderson Hall, Fort Belvoir, and Fort Meade. In 2010 he collaborated with EMI composer Zade Dirani on the ‘One Night in Jordan: A concert for Peace’ in the Middle-East under the support of King Abdullah II. He has also performed for members of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and has given private performances attended by Generals, Statesmen and Soldiers. Since starting guitar lessons at the age of four the life of Rich Barry has been dedicated to a career of the guitar through extensive education and experiences. At age nine he gave his first major public performance at Steadman Auditorium. By the age of twelve he had already studied with nine university level instructors, attended conservatory preparatory at Juilliard, Eastman and Interlochen and had won several music competitions. Study with Dr. Pablo Cohen, the professor of guitar at Ithaca College and Cornell University guided Rich Barry to The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University where he was awarded the prestigious Rose and Leon J. Neiburg Scholarship followed by a full graduate teaching assistant scholarship. While at Peabody, Rich studied with the esteemed pedagogue and performer Julian Gray, the current chair of Peabody's guitar department. Rich Barry has received critical acclaim, international Airplay and has given over 1000 performances