Barry’s lifetime love of music began as a treble singing in various local church choirs in Oxford followed by studying the violin, going on to lead the Oxfordshire County and University orchestras.
Starting at Oxford School (a comprehensive school that sent up 9 pupils to Oxbridge that year) Barry studied Theology and then Philosophy at Cambridge University. A further PGCE year saw him produce Purcell’s opera King Arthurin the open air at Corpus Christi College, then at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. After teaching for 3 years, Barry went back to college to study opera at the Royal Northern College of Music and then at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. In London in the early 90s Barry sang as a freelance tenor, singing various solo roles with UK opera companies such as Pimlico Opera.
Barry’s solo roles include Don Ramiro in Cenerentola, Tamino in Magic Flute, Count Ory, and Lenski in Eugene Onegin. He has performed in Opera gala evenings, notably on the magnificent ship the QE2 on her passage to New York.
Barry then sang with the Royal Opera House chorus, the Bayreuth Festival chorus, Frankfurt Oper and the La Scala Milan chorus, and with other international companies. He has appeared in chorus with London Voices on many soundtracks including the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (2005 at Abbey Road).
Barry has founded various opera and music companies including: Co-Opera (1992, Eugene Onegin), Bloomsbury Opera (1994, producing the Magic Flute in an open-air Central London swimming pool), Klaster Studios concerts in Prague (2009-2014), Project Nepomuk in Liverpool and Nepomuk, Czech Republic (2017-19).
Barry conducted his opera ‘Nepomuk’ in Liverpool in 2018, singing at the Frantiskovy Lazne Literary Festival and on Czech Radio.
Apart from his more classical repertoire, Barry is currently planning a series of concerts of his own songs and arrangements. Performances will be online and in concert.