about Courage (tl;dr version)
I’m a composer and visual artist from Indiana.
I mostly write for singers and electronics.
I’m a countertenor.
I sing early and new music.
I sing and perform movement in my works.
I go to Indiana University.
I major in composition and
historical performance (voice).
about Courage (full version)
Courage Barda (b. 2003) is a composer, media artist, and countertenor known primarily for his choral and vocal music, as well as his interdisciplinary works, which combine music with movement, theater, text, and video. At the center of his artistic practice is playfulness, inviting audiences to experience humor, grief, and absurdity in his music. Another central thread in his work is his return to dance after a disabling neurological event. Restricted by his physical impairment, he has developed a robust, adaptive movement vocabulary which he experiments with in intimate and vulnerable performance pieces. Ensembles that have performed his work include 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.
In addition to his own compositions, Barda performs an eclectic repertoire as a countertenor specializing in the performance of both early music and new music, having performed in solo and chamber settings the music of J.S. Bach, Heinrich Schütz, José Marin, Guillaume de Machaut, G.F. Handel, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and John Dowland, as well as the music of Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, Julián Carillo, and Unsuk Chin.
He is pursuing bachelor’s degrees in composition and historical voice performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He presently studies composition with Gabriel Jenks and Aaron Travers, and voice with Thomas Cooley. He previously studied composition with Don Freund and David Dzubay, and voice with Judith Malafronte and Steven Rickards.
my why
"As a multimedia artist, I explore the connections and boundaries between sound, text, movement, and digital media, taking joy in finding creative ways to combine these elements. I believe that these elements are interdependent forces capable of symbiosis in which they influence and elevate one another.
My creative output is sculpted by a dialectic of personal experiences. This became especially true in 2020 when I gained a physical disability, which led me to challenge the way I think and rename myself Courage––an ontological intervention that serves as a reminder of the honest and vulnerable person I aspire to be. With this transformation came an equal artistic one, in which I grew more comfortable with confronting personal themes, both intense and whimsical, through my work.
My earliest experiences with composition began as a member of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, where I was encouraged by several directors to explore my own creative voice. It was around this time that I was introduced to the idea of being a composer-performer, inspired largely by Meredith Monk and Diamanda Galás. I began composing music for myself to perform, soon learning how vital this personal, physical connection with my art is for my creative expression. Composing music for myself to perform allows me a deeper level of freedom that I can’t find anywhere else.
Recently, I've been working on my honors thesis, a piece for video, trumpet, mandolin, and percussion called 'QUICK CHXNGE' which uses Foucault’s ideas around power and force relations to explore one’s actual freedom to express themselves through the invention of a subject that changes their appearance throughout the entire piece. "