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 County and University orchestras.

He went up from a comprehensive school in Oxford to study Theology and then Philosophy at Cambridge. A further PGCE year saw him produce Purcell’s opera King Arthurin the open air in Canmbridge then at Minack Theatre. After teaching for 3 years, he went back to college to study opera at the RNCM and RSAMD. In London in the early 90s he sang as a freelance, singing various solo roles with UK opera companies such as Pimlico Opera. He 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.

His 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.

He has appeared in chorus with London Voices on many soundtracks including the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (2005 at Abbey Road).

He has founded various opera and music companies including: Co-Opera (1992 Eugene Onegin), Bloomsbury Opera (1994 producing the Magic Flute in an open-air swimming pool), Klaster Studios sro in Prague (2009-2014), Project Nepomuk (2017-19) in Liverpool and Nepomuk, Czech Republic, and now The Aqua Project.

He conducted his opera ‘Nepomuk’ in Liverpool in 2018, singing at the Frantiskovy Lazne Literary Festival and on Czech Radio.