Seymour Barab

Seymour Barab (born January 9, 1921 in Chicago, Illinois – died June 28, 2014 in Manhattan) was an American composer of opera, songs, instrumental, and chamber music, as well as a cellist, organist, and pianist. He was known for his fairy tale operas for young audiences, such as Chanticleer and Little Red Riding Hood. He was a longtime member of the Philip Glass Ensemble.

Early life

Seymour Barab was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 21, 1921 to Samuel Barab and Leah Yablunky. Although both Barab’s parents were Polish immigrants, the two did not meet until they had both moved to the United States separately. After they were married they gave birth in 1913 to Seymour’s older brother, Abraham, who would later change his name to Oscar. Seymour’s father also changed his name in later years to Leo, however it is unclear why either family member changed their given names. Growing up, the Barab family had little money, but that did not hinder Seymour Barab’s musical education. In an interview with James Moore, Barab stated, “I was given piano lessons beginning at an early age, because, although we were poor, we were very cultured people. The household names in our house were Paderewski, Galli-Curci and it was only natural that I would be given piano lessons.” Barab started lessons with his aunt, Gertrude Yablunky, at a young age. Although his aunt was not a professional pianist or teacher, Barab felt that he “got something from her.”

Barab

Barab (Persian: براب‎‎, also Romanized as Barāb) is a village in Bakhtajerd Rural District, in the Central District of Darab County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 733, in 177 families.

References

Amazon Music

Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is an online music store and music locker operated by Amazon.com. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management (DRM) from the four major music labels (EMI, Universal, Warner Music, and Sony BMG), as well as many independents. All tracks were originally sold in 256 kilobits-per-second variable bitrate MP3 format without per-customer watermarking or DRM; however, some tracks are now watermarked. Licensing agreements with recording companies restrict the countries in which music can be sold: Amazon.com only sells music to US customers while Amazon.co.uk only sells music to UK customers.

After the United States, Amazon MP3 was launched in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2008, in Germany on April 1, 2009, and in France on June 10, 2009. The German edition has been available in Austria and Switzerland since December 3, 2009. The Amazon MP3 store was launched in Japan on November 10, 2010. The Spanish and Italian editions were launched on October 4, 2012.