Barış Perker began his piano studies at the age of 8 with Prof. Seher Tanrıyar at the Istanbul Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory. In 1994, he was accepted to the composition department in the same Institution, and he continued his studies in piano with Prof. Metin Ülkü and in composition with Prof. Hasan Uçarsu. He graduated from both the composition and piano departments in 2002. Mr. Perker was accepted to the Johns Hopkins University Peabody Conservatory to pursue his master degree in composition in 2003. There, he studied composition with numerous renowned composers, such as Nicholas Maw, Christopher Theofanidis, Shafer Mahoney and Bruno Amato. Barış Perker received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Peabody Institute in May 2011.
Barış Perker won many awards including Randolph S. Rothschild Merit Prize (2005), first prize in the Macht Orchestra Composition Competition for his orchestral piece The Dreamy Dance (2005), second prize in the ‘Prix d’Ete’ Electronic Music Composition Contest for his Fantasy for Bassoon and Max(2005), second prize in the Dr. Nejat Eczacıbaşı National Composition Competition for his orchestral music Sound of the Red Shadow (2006).
Among Mr. Perker’s works are I am Listening to İstanbul (2004), written for the violin, guitar and voice on an English translation of İstanbul’u Dinliyorum, a poem by Orhan Veli Kanık; Leaves with a Name (2007), a theater music for the Peabody Institute’s 150th anniversary event, Seven Images of İstanbul (2010) commissioned by harpist Şirin Pancaroğlu to be performed within the frame of İstanbul 2010 – European Capital of Culture events and Concerto for Alto Saxophone (2012) commissioned by saxophonist Kenneth Radnofsky.
His works have been performed by major orchestras, including İzmir State Symphony, İstanbul State Symphony, Ankara Presidential Symphony and Peabody Symphony Orchestras and featured many distinguished conductors such as Gürer Aykal, Mark Kadin, Antonio Pirolli, Naci Özgüç, Burak Tüzün, Bohuslav Rattay, Paul Kim as well as many remarkable soloists like Kenneth Radnofsky, Ina Zdorovetchi, Metin Ülkü, Michael Sheppard, Jerfi Aji and Brian Bubnash.
Barış Perker is currently working as a freelance composer on several short film productions and as an instructor at Ivy Music Academy.