Notable amongst Barker's catalogue is her work for children's chorus and symphony orchestra, titled
Nollaig, which has received performances from the
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra with the St. Louis Children's Chorus, the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra with the New Jersey Youth Choirs, the
Virginia Symphony Orchestra with the Virginia Children’s Chorus, the Fort Collins Symphony, the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra with the Central Illinois Children's Chorus, and the Lynchburg Symphony with Cantate Children’s and Youth Choir of Central Virginia.
Nollaig was commissioned by the Virginia Children's Chorus with the Virginia Symphony and premiered under the baton of Wes Kenney at Hampton Coliseum in Hampton Roads, Virginia, USA to an audience of just under 10,000 people. With permission from the composer, a chamber version of this work was created by Dr. Betty Bertaux, director of The Children’s Chorus of Maryland, for publication on her
Boosey & Hawkes choral series. Further choral-instrumental works include
Harmony of Angels, commissioned and premiered by the
Bearsden Choir with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Brass and Percussion, and
Ealasaid, premiered by 6-WIRE and the University of Delaware Chorale at Carnegie Hall in New York. Described as “a haunting journey through a woman’s experience of life and love”, Barker’s song-cycle for soprano, flute and piano setting four poems by Robert Burns, titled
A Lassie’s Love, has been recorded on the Meyer Media LLC label. Commissioned by Scottish ensemble, Vocali3e, the creation of the work, and subsequent concert tours of the work in Scotland and America, were supported by grants from
Creative Scotland, The Jean Armour Burns Trust,
The National Trust for Scotland, Made in Scotland Onward Touring Fund and the Delaware Division for the Arts, USA. The work was premiered at The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Ayrshire, Scotland in May 2015. Also of note in Barker’s portfolio of compositions is her composition for flute and piano titled
Na Trì Peathraichean (The Three Sisters…of Glencoe) which “impressionistically evoke(s) the landscape and atmosphere of three neighbouring mountain ridges in the Scottish Highlands”. Originally commissioned and recorded by Virginia Symphony flautist, Laurie Baefsky, for the inaugural CD release of the Meyer Media label (2000), this work has recently been recorded by award-winning international
Powell Flutes artist, Alice K. Dade, for
Naxos Records (2018). With a YouTube video of the first movement of the work,
Gearr Aonach, reaching almost half a million views, this composition has been reviewed as “evocative and virtuosic at the same time”; “impressive…a vivid landscape of colors and textures…majestic…richly evocative”; “very attractive”; “a wonderfully atmospheric piece, denoting the gentle wind (that) rustles through the crevices and the ferns, truly evocative and haunting.” With undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano performance, Barker's continued work as a collaborative pianist is highly evident in her writing for piano.
Martin Jones (pianist) has recorded two of her three compositions for solo piano,
Moana and
BuMian, on the PnOVA: American Piano Music Series. American pianist Kevin Robert Orr has recorded her solo piano work,
Geenyoch Ballant, and also performed it to critical review in America, Europe and Asia: “Orr then went on to play a much more modern work by Jennifer Margaret Barker. It…took full advantage of the basically percussive nature of the modern piano. There were echoes of Carl Orff, Shostakovich, Copland, and even Mahler, to be heard throughout the piece. But in the end, it was clearly Barker’s own.”
Geenyoch Ballant was written for the 2003 American Liszt Society National Conference. In addition, American composer,
Melinda Wagner, engaged Barker to create the piano reduction of her
1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning work,
Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Percussion, for publication by the
Theodore Presser Company. Among Barker’s more Celtic-flavoured compositions are two works setting the poetry of Scottish poet and academic,
Derick Thomson. The first work,
Geodha, is a chamber work for string trio and timpano utilizing material from an earlier, larger work inspired by and named for Thomson’s poem
Geodha Air Chùl Na Grèine. The second work sets the poetry of
Seann Oràn within a work for flute and acoustic guitar. On Barker’s
Nyvaigs CD, one can hear Thomson reciting his poem,
Geodha Air Chùl Na Grèine, followed by Barker’s setting of the poem in song, performed by Eilidh Mackenzie. ==Discography==