1945 born into Calcutta’s English-speaking minority. 1951-65 studied piano and music theory. 1957 first compositions. 1962-65 studied natural sciences in Calcutta. 1966-68 active as pianist, conductor, music theory teacher. 1968-73 studied composition and electronic music in Cologne. 1971 first use of a computer as a compositional aid. 1982-1994 taught computer music at the Darmstadt Summer Courses. 1984-2005 lecturer on computer music at Cologne Music University. 1990-94 artistic director of the Institute of Sonology The Hague. 1994-2006 professor of composition and sonology in The Hague. Since 2006 Corwin professor and head of composition at the Music Department, University of California in Santa Barbara.
1945: born into the English-speaking minority of Calcutta, going there to school and college, studying piano, music theory and natural sciences. 1957: first compositions. 1965: graduated in science at Calcutta University, thereafter active as conductor and music theory teacher at the Calcutta School of Music. 1968: moved to Cologne, studying (until 1973) composition and electronic music at Cologne Music University. 1971-1972: studied also at the Institute of Sonology, Utrecht University. 1971: began to use computers as a compositional aid. 1982: initiated, 1986 co-founded, 1986-1993 and 1996-2002 chaired GIMIK: Initiative Musik und Informatik Köln. 1982-1994: in charge of Computer Music at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. 1984-2005: lecturer on Computer Music, Cologne Music University. 1988: Director of Music, XIVth International Computer Music Conference, held in Cologne. 1990-1991: visiting professor of composition, Folkwang University Essen. 1990-94: Artistic Director, Institute of Sonology, The Hague Royal Conservatory. 1994-2006: Professor of Composition and Sonology at the same conservatory. 1994-2010: member of the Académie Internationale de Musique Electroacoustique in Bourges. 2005-2006: visiting professor of composition, School of Music and Performing Arts ESMAE in Porto. Since 2006: Corwin Professor and Head of Composition, Music Department, University of California Santa Barbara.
Clarence Barlow was born in 1945 of English, Portuguese and French colonial descent in Calcutta. In 1965 he obtained a science degree at Calcutta University as well as the Licentiate Diploma of Trinity College of Music London in piano. From 1966-68 he taught music theory at the Calcutta School of Music. From 1968-73 he studied electronic music and composition with Herbert Eimert, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Vinko Globokar and Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Music University (Musikhochschule) of Cologne.
As early as 1971 he began to compose music with the help of computers and worked thereafter in computer music studios in Stockholm (EMS), Paris (IRCAM), Amsterdam (STEIM), Warsaw (Chopin Academy) und Chicago (Northwestern University). In 1980 he was awarded the Kranichstein Composition Prize at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music, in 1981 the Composition Prize of Cologne. From 1982-94 he regularly taught computer-aided composition at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music and since 1984 at the Music University of Cologne. In addition he has lectured and his music has been performed in Canada, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand as well as in the following European countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia and Greece. Among the ensembles who have performed his music may be mentioned orchestras based in Baden-Baden (South-West Radio Orchestra), Frankfurt (Hessian Radio Orchestra) and Reykjavik (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) as well as ensembles from Frankfurt (Ensemble Modern), Cologne (Ensemble Köln), Berlin (Kammerensemble Neue Musik), Paris (Ensemble Itineraire), Amsterdam (Ives Ensemble), London (Apartment House), Montreal (Core) and others such as the Arditti and Kronos Ensembles.
In 1982 he initiated a computer music society in Cologne, which he co-founded in 1986 as GIMIK: Initiative Musik und Informatik Köln and chaired from 1986-93 and 1996-2002, since when he holds the title of member of honour of that society. In 1988 he was music director of the XIVth International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), organized by GIMIK in Cologne. From 1990-91 he was Guest Professor for Composition and Radio Play at the Folkwang University Essen. From 1990-94 he was Artistic Director of the Institute of Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he has since been Professor of Composition and Sonology. From 1991-92 he was a founding member of the Leonardo Project in Cologne’s MediaPark Centre. Since 1994 he has been a permanent member of the International Academy of Electroacoustic Music in Bourges (France). In 1994 he initiated and directed the Lingua Armata Project in the Spektakel-Festival of the Science Ministry of the German federal state of North-Rhine-Westphalia held in Dortmund as well as the Amaludus Project of the same ministry at the Spektakel-Festival of 1996 in Münster. In 1995 he initiated and directed (with GIMIK) the four-city Trapezium Festival in Amsterdam, Essen, Cologne and The Hague involving 24 composers, six from each city. At the Royal Conservatory The Hague he initiated and organized in 1991 the Roboard Pfestival (including a two-hour and a three-hour concert of player-piano music) and the RATIO project (1992-93) involving structured music from mediaeval and contemporary Europe as well as North India, the Middle and Far East.
As a composer he writes instrumental (solo, chamber and orchestral) as well as electronic music. Furthermore he has for decades developed music software and computer music installations, has penned music theatre pieces and radio plays and been author and editor of numerous articles and books on specialized music theory.