Robert Barto was born in the 1950s in San Diego. He is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, where he majored in historical lute performance. As a Fulbright scholarship recipient, he continued his studies in Cologne, Germany, and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, working with Michael Schäffer and Eugen Müller-Dombois respectively. He made Germany his home for many years and travels and performs worldwide.

Barto specializes in Baroque and Empfindsamkeit lute repertoire, particularly the works of Sylvius Leopold Weiss and Bernhard Joachim Hagen. He has recorded eleven volumes of Weiss’s lute sonatas and two CDs of Hagen’s solo works for the Naxos and Symphonia labels. In 1984 he took top honors at the International Lute Competition in Toronto and at Musica Antiqua Bruges in Belgium. He has given master classes in Spain, Sweden, Germany, Italy and Japan.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Barto
• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7341914