One of the most expressive representatives of the lyric and Romantic traditions of 20th-century classical music, Barber is recognized as one of the grand American composers Born in W Chester, Pennsylvania, Barber started his musical studies on the piano before studying composition. He entered The Curtis Institute of Music in one thousand nine hundred twenty-fourth at the age of fourteen, he studied singing and conducting in addition to piano and composition. After completing his studies at Curtis, he devoted himself solely to composition.

Many of his works were commissioned or premiered by orchestras and artists such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NY Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, Vladimir Horowitz, Francis Poulenc, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, to title a few. His signature works comprise Adagio for Strings, a cello sonata and concerto, and his Violin Concerto Op. fourteen – a much-loved standard in today's concert and contest repertoire. His Adagio for Strings in specific gained popularity in the United States and Europe and was performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra below Arturo Toscanini. Barber wrote a significant quantity of instrumental music, but much of his compositional output consisted of art songs and choral music. His opera, Vanessa, was produced by the Metropolitan Opera Organization and awarded a Pulitzer Prize.