Jennifer Margaret Barker receives Masters Award

Jennifer Margaret Barker, professor of music theory and composition, has been awarded the Delaware Division of the Arts 2021 Individual Artist Fellowship Masters Award, the highest level granted by the DDOA.

In her 20 years as a proud Delawarean, and an invaluable member of the University of Delaware School of Music faculty, Dr. Barker has garnered accolades for her work across the globe. Most recently, she was awarded the 2018 Pi Kappa Lambda Chamber Composition Commission through a year-long national adjudication, as well as two awards in the 2018 and 2019 The American Prize national competitions. A native of Scotland, Dr. Barker also received a $46,000 project award from Creative Scotland, that country's equivalent to the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dr. Barker's contributions to Delaware's arts community are seen through her pro-bono work as an audio engineer and audio/visual editor for videos and documentaries for arts organizations in the state, as well as in her collaborative work bringing renowned musicians to the UD campus and organizing international partnerships for other Delaware artists.

Local audiences have heard her compositions performed by 6-Wire and the Master Players Concert Series, the UD Chorale and Christiana Winds, Mélomanie and the Delaware Chamber Music Festival, among others. In conjunction with the IAF award, she is preparing a fall 2021 concert that will feature three compositions not yet heard in Delaware, including Ocean of Glass for flute, clarinet piano performed by UD faculty Eileen Grycky, Christine Delbeau and Christopher Nichols; and three works for solo piano to be performed by Francesca Hurst from The Catholic University of America.

The masters fellowship is open to different art disciplines each year, and the 2021 award was open to applicants in dance, jazz and music from artists who have previously been award the Established Professional Fellowship. Dr. Barker received the Established Professional Fellowship in 2007.

This award is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on DelawareScene.com.