Born in Pennsylvania in 1910, Samuel Barber is among the most famous of American composers. Success was to prove elusive after Barber’s auspicious début in 1933 with the vivacious and bubbling overture, The School for Scandal. It was a meeting with Arturo Toscanini that encouraged the great Italian conductor to première the Essay for Orchestra No. 1 and Adagio for Strings with his NBC Symphony Orchestra in New York, and this provided Barber with the international recognition he required to launch a major career. His modest catalogue of works includes three operas, two ballets, two symphonies and three concertos. Though he did experiment with 20th century compositional techniques, his style remains firmly anchored in a romantic vein.