Winner of the 1985 WSO Youth Concerto Competition, Barry Sindlinger debuted at age 17 with the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra. His many awards include 1st Place in the Pennsylvania MTA Regional Competition, 2nd Place in the Pennsylvania MTA State Competition, and 1st Prize in the Pensacola MTA Intercollegiate Sonata Competition.

From his earliest years, Barry's performances of his own concert arrangements have garnered awards, including 1st Prize in the ACE International Piano Competition.

An accomplished improviser, the 33-year-old Sindlinger has long been much in demand as an accompanist, providing creative stylings that are both sensitive and supportive to award-winning vocalists and other instrumentalists.

Across the US and Canada, audiences have thrilled most to Barry's Impromptus, his signature concert renditions introduced in novel ways that demonstrate their bona fide spontaneity. When Barry creates a passionate, pristine improv on notes chosen at random from the audience, the reaction is astonishment:  "How could a performance so gorgeous, so gripping, have been totally unrehearsed?!"

As one of those rare performers who thrive in such a setting, Barry reveals his own reaction to this phenomenon:

"I feed off of my audience's energy! When I go back [to revisit my performance], I am as amazed as my audience! I hear myself playing like I have never played before--more passionately, more freely, with heightened expression and technique--and I wonder:  'How does a performer select and weave such complex tonal variations into the greater whole of a touching performance? How can he evade paralysis at the daunting task of baring himself to a live audience?' I improvise, I teach my students the craft of improvisation, yet the power of such performances makes me speechless! It defies explanation."

Unfortunately, there are few formal competitions for the gifted, trained improviser--in the very arena that distinguishes Barry most from many other concert pianists of his generation (classical improvisation, informed by jazz, folk, and popular styles). Barry has opinions about this dearth and hopes to change it:

"Generations ago, performers were expected to show their skills at improvisation in major competitions. There was no first prize without the demonstration of impressive compositional feats! Today, aside from a few jazz competitions, that criterion of musicianship is absent. This discourages modern artists and students from finding --or even testing--their potential in the most creative realms of composition and improvisation! I hope within the next few years to start a competition and performance venue the likes of which has not been seen nor heard since the 19th century."

Currently, Sindlinger manages Music Production at PianoDisc, apprentices advanced students and presents popular recital-masterclasses in Performance through Composition, a Compleat Pianist's approach to "mastering musicianship at the piano."^TM

As to his formal training, Sindlinger credits Jean Uhl, Grace Pinter, Annette Burkhart, Jane Landon, Ray Hines, Mike Zachary, Mark Crawford, and Ray & Ann Gibbs with his early growth, as he struggled to find his own way. "These performers, accompanists, theorists, arrangers, and vocalists had much to offer, and it is unlikely that they appreciate how much I learned from them and how extensively my curious mind adapted their teaching!" As a self-learner, Sindlinger also honors a long list of tutors whom he has never met and hopes soon to highlight their works in his upcoming "Annotated Bibliography for Unafraid Student Musicians (and Lifelong Learners)."