about Courage (tl;dr version)
I'm a composer, media artist, and tenor.
I integrate music, dance, video, and text in my work.
I produce work about my disability and sexuality.
I compose lots of music for choir.
I'm an Indiana University alum (BM Composition + BSOF Historical Performance [Voice]) now studying at the University of Southern California (MM Composition).
about Courage (full bio)
Courage Barda (b. 2003) is a composer, tenor, and media artist from Indiana. He composes music for the voice and creates interdisciplinary performance works that integrate movement, theater, text, and video. Playfulness and critical theory are central to his creative practice. His research focuses on intermedia counterpoint and the aesthetics of abjection and camp. After surviving a severe neurological event, he began to center his work on his disabled body, using it as compositional material and a conceptual framework.
His work has been performed by ensembles such Roots in the Sky, C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, the Fourth Choir, the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, the Phoenix Boys Choir, the Capital Hearings, the International Brazilian Opera Company, Hub New Music, the Choral Arts Initiative, and NOTUS, Indiana University’s contemporary vocal ensemble.
He earned bachelor’s degrees in Composition and Historical Performance (Voice) at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. There, he studied composition primarily with Gabriel Jenks and voice with Thomas Cooley. He will begin pursuing a Master of Music in Composition at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in the fall of 2026.
my why (artist statement)
I am a composer whose work is situated within the expanded multimedia field. My work centers on my disabled body. I call attention to my limp by accentuating its unique rhythm and shape, and by positioning it in disabling environments. In my movement piece I want to run again (2025), I perform an aerobic test similar to ones found in school gym classes, but alone.
I am guided by a principle of radical honesty. I present my own personal experiences in my work without alteration. The rawness of my work creates discomfort at times, but in a way I see as productive. I invite people to be uncomfortable in my art, to reflect on their own relationship with the systems of power I examine in my work. In my video work QUICK CHXNGE (2025) I repeatedly apply face paint and change into a mixture of men’s and women’s clothes. My physical state and appearance become progressively deteriorated, an articulation of the invisible, diffuse power Michael Foucault introduced. That work and others are influenced by Julia Kristeva’s writings on abjection. I experiment with nakedness and extended vocal techniques and combine human and non-human qualities as part of my research into abjection. By immersing audiences in indeterminate spaces, they become removed from socialized modes of thought and made to confront new conditions.
My training in musical composition has fostered a fascination with intermedia counterpoint. I approach the composition of movement and video as if they were individual musical voices, notating and manipulating their entrances and punctuation alongside the music. By expanding concepts like musical counterpoint and videographic depth of field to include other mediums, I produce more complete and defined artistic works. Creating transdisciplinary works contributes to my mission of regaining autonomy in my own life, allowing me to decide the exact presentation of my body.