Hanus Barton was born into a family of a research worker. Beginning in 1975, he studied composition (with Ilja Hurnik) and piano (with Emil Leichner) at the Prague Conservatory, and continued his studies in 1981 at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. Here he studied composition with Jiri Pauer and piano with Jan Panenka. He then further broadened education as a musical specialist working as a research student in the Academy's Department of Composition under of Svatopluk Havelka, and today he holds the position of Head of Composition in the same school. As a composer Barton's primary concern is with instrumental music, and he has produced works for a variety of combinations of instruments. His compositions are often an attempt to organically combine various elements of musical style, genre and history. He has also composed incidental music to a number of stage plays.
Barton is also active as a performer on the piano. He is a member of the ensembles Ars Cameralis (specializing in the performance of medieval and contemporary music) and MoEns (specializing in contemporary repertoire) and forms a piano duo with his wife Jana Macharackova. He has participated in a number of CD recordings including those of works by Jan Ladislav Dusik, Leos Janacek and Svatopluk Havelka and several recordings by Ars Cameralis. He has also been involved in radio recordings of works by contemporary Czech composers.