Eric Lane Barnes is the author of the critically acclaimed Fairy Tales, which received numerous awards in Chicago and New York, and played in London’s West End. His show The Stops has played in numerous cities across the USA, garnering ‘Best Musical’ at the International Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival in 2006. His scores and scripts for Chicago’s Lifeline Theatre include Tuck Everlasting, Simple Jim and His Four Fabulous Friends, and Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, the latter of which continues to play in theaters across the country.

From 2000 through 2017 Barnes was the Associate Artistic Director of Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus, creating and conducting numerous works for enthusiastic audiences all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond. ELB’s choral compositions have graced stages all over the United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and China. In 2013 and 2016 Barnes traveled to Beijing and Seoul to work with The Beijing Queer Chorus, the first LGBT chorus in mainland China. Barnes continues his work as a consultant with choruses, ensembles and other performing entities in the United States and abroad. He directs two senior choruses in Seattle and Bellevue, and works in numerous senior residences providing a variety of musical experiences.

Since 2018 Eric has been the director of music at East Shore Unitarian Church. Since 2022 he has been a part-time music director at the Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Congregation. He is also the cofounder and ¼ of Princess Guy, Seattle’s Most Fabulous Vocal Quartet. Eric Lane Barnes wrote songs and underscoring for the independent films In-laws and Outlaws, and Seattle to Ghana as well as the Wes Hurley independent features Waxie Moon and Fallen. He is currently writing a multi-discipline work based on a beloved historical figure and collaborating on two illustrated children’s books with illustrator Rob Dorn.