Donald P. Barra, Ed.D.

Bio

Donald Barra attended the Eastman School of Music for his undergraduate degree, the Julliard School of Music for his master’s degree, and the Teachers College at Columbia University for his doctorate, where he majored in conducting and composition with minors in clarinet and voice. He conducted orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He served as conductor of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, the chamber orchestras of Baruch College and Pace College, the Columbia University Band, and served as Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh before arriving at SDSU to serve as professor of music and Director of Orchestras. While in San Diego, he founded and served as conductor and artistic director of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra from 1983-2006, and also served as the choir director at the Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe. In 1983 he authored the book ​​The Dynamic Performance: A Performer's Guide to Musical Expression and Interpretation (published by Prentice Hall). Reflecting his longstanding interest in aural analysis, in 2012, he published an e-book titled Bending Music, which utilized spectrograms to represent music visually.