Lorna Barker

Instructor of Piano, Staff coach and accompanist

Education

University of South Carolina
DMA, Piano Performance

Syracuse University
M.A., Piano Performance

Baldwin Wallace Conservatory
BM, Piano Performance

Performance/Recording Highlights

Lorna Barker is a concert pianist, collaborative pianist, adjudicator and teacher in the Charleston area. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, after receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio and a Master of Music degree from Syracuse, New York, all in piano performance. Originally from Northern Ohio, Barker has been an active performer in the Charleston area since her move to Mount Pleasant in 1987.

Barker has performed with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra for over 20 years, the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, the North Charleston Pops Orchestra, in the Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto festivals, and was the pianist for the Broadway touring company of the hit musicals Wicked and The Book of Mormon. She has taught private piano instruction for 40 years. Her students have won many scholarship and state awards.

Barker was the music director at Christ Church Anglican in Mount Pleasant for 32 years. Her 32 voice choir produced two CDs and was invited to sing at Carnegie Hall in 2019. They performed many times for the Christmas Tours at the Biltmore Estate and regularly performed their own choir concerts in the area. 

Barker has composed and published two books, “Trumpet Descants for 101 Noteworthy Hymns” and “Vocal Descants for 101 Noteworthy Hymns. Both are published by the Church Hymnal Corporation in New York. She is the founding director of The East Cooper Concert Series in Mount Pleasant, a successful classical music series for the past 30 years. She is married with a blended family and has two children and two stepchildren.

Courses Taught

MUSC 121 - Class Piano I
MUSC 122 - Class Piano II
MUSC 131 - Music Appreciation
MUSP 212 - Applied Music: Piano