Suren Barry

Piano

Hailing from Ottawa (Canada), Suren has established himself as a versatile artist, equally at home on piano, fortepiano, and harpsichord. Regularly performing as part of Duo Octavian, a piano duo dedicated to commissioning new music and arranging orchestral works for two pianos, Suren's fascination for improvisation has also inspired him to pursue fortepiano performance, focusing on Mozart and developing techniques for improvising cadenzas (which was the topic of his doctoral thesis at McGill's Schulich School of Music).

This passion for improvisation recently led Suren to pursue a Master's in Historical Performance on harpsichord at Juilliard. Over the past two years, Suren has performed with some of the world's leading early music ensembles in France, Germany, and the US, such as Les Arts Florissants (led by William Christie), Yale’s Schola Cantorum (led by David Hill), and many others. A self-professed generalist, Suren is happiest when learning new things and engaging in conversation, and has perhaps spent more time playing chess than he cares to admit.