About the Composer

EDWARD BARNES is an award-winning producer, composer -lyricist and public speaker. His work has been seen on and off-Broadway, in concert halls, opera houses and theaters around the world.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, he is the winner of Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships, the Stephen Sondheim Award for “innovative musical theater”, and has been a resident artist at Ucross (Wyoming), Fundación Valparaíso (Spain), and the Instituto Sacatar (Brazil). Edward’s producing credits include Tracy Letts’ play, Superior Donuts, on Broadway, Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall (starring Jane Fonda, Nathan Gunn and Victoria Clark), Gordon’s A Coffin In Egypt (starring Frederica von Stade) for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook, and recordings of Kurt Weill’s Knickerbocker Holiday (Ghostlight/Sh-k-boom Records) and The Road of Promise (Naxos Records).

A leading non-profit administrator, Edward has served as Executive Director of Gotham Chamber Opera, Producing Director of MasterVoices, and Managing Director of American Lyric Theater.

Edward is currently on the faculty at the Juilliard School, where he leads courses in American popular music of all genres, and is a popular lecturer at the Chautauqua Institute and NYC’s 92nd Street Y. His original video essays on popular songs can be seen on his YouTube Channel, “Songbook Station”.