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Damian Barbeler is a distinctive voice among Australian composers. His catalogue of works demonstrates his versatility and creative range, encompassing Australia's major orchestras, notable chamber groups and soloists, electronic/radiophonic music, and works for children and amateurs.

His early experience was gained as a composer and performer in Brisbane's thriving alternative theatre and experimental music scene. As a result, his compositions bring an innovative and adventurous approach to conventional forces, a personal style appreciated by performers and listeners alike. Even in his latest creations, elements remain of the energetic young student whose incidental music for theatre and film, performance–art collaborations, and works for unusual groupings (including 'amplified super–orchestra') first attracted critical attention.

During this period of the 1990s he studied with Gerard Brophy, attaining his M.Mus from the Queensland Conservatorium. Among other compositional and performance activities he co–founded the noted Brisbane composers' collective 'Compost'.

On moving to Sydney in 1998 Barbeler's works began to be heard more widely, including in broadcasts across Australia on ABC Classic FM. In 2001 he was a resident composer with the Sydney Symphony, and his work Filter was included as part of their renowned education program under the direction of Richard Gill. Later the same year, and again in 2002, he participated in the prestigious Australian Composers Orchestral Forum, seen as something of a launching–pad for serious Australian composers since its inception in 1980. Barbeler's tutors for these sessions included Michael Smetanin and Roger Smalley. During ACOF, two works were premiered by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra under Kevin Field: Curlicues for Orchestra and Elastic Horizons. The latter work was later elected 'recommended work' at the International Music Council's Composer Rostrum in Vienna in 2003, placing Barbeler in distinguished company. (Previous 'recommended' composers have included Benjamin Britten and Brett Dean, among others.) Elastic Horizons was subsequently broadcast in numerous countries across Europe.

Alongside his busy composing schedule, Damian Barbeler has acquired a growing reputation as a music educator. As well as tutoring in composition at the award–winning music department of MLC School, Burwood NSW, he is in demand through the Musica Viva in Schools program as a composer in residence. He also co–authored (with Diana Blom and Matthew Hindson) the Music Composition Toolbox (Science Press, 2006) which has become a best–selling composition textbook.

In 2006, Barbeler began work on a PhD at the Sydney Conservatorium (Sydney University) with Michael Smetanin. He was also awarded the highly sought–after Ian Potter Emerging Composer Fellowship, supporting the creation of seven works over two years. Music created under the auspices of this fellowship includes commissions for recorder player Genevieve Lacey and, with librettist Rodney Hall, a chamber opera for Southern Cross Soloists. His Valse Diploblastic (2007), performed by percussionist Claire Edwardes, violinist James Cuddeford and domestic tumble–dryer, was reviewed in the Sydney Morning Herald:

Damian Barbeler's Valse Diploblastic for violin, marimba and home appliance (a clothes dryer with an alarmingly low energy–efficiency rating) reintroduced gestural suggestiveness: the first movement, played against the dryer's hum, was built of delicate yearning phrases between marimba (Claire Edwardes) and violin (James Cuddeford) that pirouetted achingly like two people learning to kiss.

In 2008, Barbeler had his second success at the Rostrum of Composers, where his radiophonic creation for ABC Classic FM, Exquisite Blood won 'recommended work'. Exquisite Blood expands on recent a radiophonic focus, including Interview with the Artist as a Young Man (2006) and Tuning Orfeo (2007). In May 2008, his work God in the Machine was premiered in the finals of the Toru Takemitsu Prize in Tokyo, where adjudicator by Steve Reich described Barbeler's work as 'master orchestration'.

Biography provided by the composer — current to October 2008