Barlow Bradford
Dr. Barlow Bradford is a distinguished conductor, composer, arranger, pianist, organist, and teacher. He co-founded the Utah Chamber Artists, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1991 and had the honor of leading that organization to international acclaim. He is an associate professor in the School of Music at the University of Utah and has also taught at Brigham Young University-Hawaii.
Dr. Bradford has published numerous compositions and arrangements of choral and orchestral music. His focused, energetic conducting style led to his appointment as the first music director of the Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he served from 1999 to 2003. Dr. Bradford was also the associate director of the world-renown Mormon Tabernacle Choir during that same time. Before that, he was the director of orchestras at the University of Utah.
He has published numerous compositions and arrangements of choral and orchestral music that have garnered much attention. His piece, “From the Fowl’s Perspective,” received its world premiere performance by the Honolulu Symphony in October 2005. Many of his arrangements have been performed/recorded by the Utah Chamber Artists, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony Chorus, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Choral Artists. Seattle Pacific University, Baylor University, Mormon Tabernacle Choir/Orchestra at Temple Square, Newfoundland Festival 500, and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus have also performed/recorded his arrangements. His music has been recorded on Telarc, Clarion, Bonneville, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir labels. A full CD comprised of his arrangements of Christmas Carols titled “Joyous Day,” featuring the Utah Chamber Artists, is recorded on the Clarion label.
Dr. Bradford’s performance career began in his early teens. He won numerous competitions in both organ and piano performance, including the National Young Artists Competition and the Utah Symphony Salute to Youth. He performed solo on both the organ and piano with the Utah Symphony, and he played concerts throughout England and North America. He is still a highly sought after recitalist. Other honors and accolades he has received include Grand Prix winner for choral singing in 2015 and 2014 (Grand Prix Winner, European Grand Prix for Choral Singing, University of Utah Chamber Choir and Grand Prix winner, Florilege International Competition for Choirs, University of Utah Chamber Choir).
He holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Southern California. While at the University of Southern California, he was awarded the Kodolfsky Graduate Fellowship, the Music Faculty Endowed Scholarship, the Leo Podolsky Piano Performance Award, the Mary Van Lear Memorial Scholarship, and was voted by the faculty as “Most Outstanding Student” in both conducting and keyboard collaborative arts. He also studied conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival. And he earned his Bachelor Degree in Music Piano Performance from the University of Utah. As a teacher, he taught courses in music theory, conducting, arranging, composition, private piano and organ at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University Hawaii. His teachers and mentors include Gustav Meier, Daniel Lewis, Nina Svetlanova, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, Gladys Gladstone, Lennox Larsen and Robert Cundick.
Dr. Bradford is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His wife, Jean, is a violinist with the Orchestra at Temple Square.
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