{"id":715,"date":"2026-06-03T13:51:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T12:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barrywebb.eu\/?page_id=715"},"modified":"2026-06-04T14:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T13:14:27","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/barrywebb.eu\/?page_id=715","title":{"rendered":"ABOUT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Header” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”gcid-4c119920-fe37-4b7d-b1e0-a1ec608cdcd7″ collapsed=”on” global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-4c119920-fe37-4b7d-b1e0-a1ec608cdcd7%22:%91%22background_color%22%93}” custom_padding=”||2px|||”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,1_2,1_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”gcid-270b494a-7797-4179-a3cb-58e2ea5a2b33″ divider_position=”center” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”5px||||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”0px||||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”off|desktop” custom_padding=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-270b494a-7797-4179-a3cb-58e2ea5a2b33%22:%91%22color%22,%22color%22,%22color%22,%22color%22,%22color%22,%22color%22,%22color%22,%22color%22,%22color%22%93}”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”_initial” header_font=”Bebas Neue||||||||” header_text_color=”#FFFFFF” header_font_size=”72px” header_line_height=”1.2em” header_2_text_color=”#FFFFFF” background_color=”#131314″ position_origin_a=”top_center” z_index=”10″ text_orientation=”center” max_width=”700px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”-20px||||false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”0px||||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”0px||||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet” header_font_size_tablet=”40px” header_font_size_phone=”24px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

ABOUT BARRY<\/span><\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”gcid-270b494a-7797-4179-a3cb-58e2ea5a2b33″ divider_position=”center” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-270b494a-7797-4179-a3cb-58e2ea5a2b33%22:%91%22color%22,%22color%22%93}”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/barrywebb.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Image0008-2.jpg” title_text=”Image0008 (2)” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_audio audio=”https:\/\/barrywebb.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cuckoo.mp3″ title=”The Cuckoo” artist_name=”Barry Webb” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_audio][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/barrywebb.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1win.jpeg” title_text=”1win” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding=”||10px|||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”_initial” text_text_color=”gcid-5a92b32a-7eb7-4cbf-bdc6-bfe5157d88a2″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” text_orientation=”center” text_font_size_tablet=”15px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-5a92b32a-7eb7-4cbf-bdc6-bfe5157d88a2%22:%91%22text_text_color%22%93}”]

Early Life & Oxford Beginnings<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

I grew up in Headington, Oxford, in a house filled with music and the quiet encouragement of my mother. I began singing as a boy in local church choirs and the Co-op Choir and, at the age of eleven, won the Morris Motors Folk Song Competition with The Cuckoo<\/em>, making a private recording at Acorn Records \u2014 a small but treasured moment that set everything in motion.<\/span><\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t sing after a difficult voice break, so I studied violin and eventually led the Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra. It was a privilege to have Muir Mattheson the film composer as our conductor, sadly only for a short time due to his passing. Sian Edwards, the conductor, played the horn in the youth orchestra. Oxford was a melting pot of excellence in those days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saturdays were spent travelling with my mother to pitch a stall at London\u2019s Bell Street antique market. We visited my great aunt ran a second-hand clothes stall from her house off the Edgware Road as part of the Church Street Market. I often stayed at 32 Salisbury Street \u2014 a house that would later become the famous Red Bus Studios. Those teenage weekends opened the door to London, its markets, its music, and the emerging scene of the 1970s. They shaped a sense of identity that would take decades to fully understand.<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”About” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”gcid-4c119920-fe37-4b7d-b1e0-a1ec608cdcd7″ collapsed=”on” global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-4c119920-fe37-4b7d-b1e0-a1ec608cdcd7%22:%91%22background_color%22%93}” custom_padding=”2px|||||”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ make_equal=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/barrywebb.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Image0021.jpg” background_size=”contain” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider show_divider=”off” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” height_tablet=”40vw” height_phone=”40vw” height_last_edited=”on|desktop” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”4vw||4vw||true|false” custom_padding_tablet=”0vw||0vw||true|false” custom_padding_phone=”0vw||0vw||true|false” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”_initial” header_2_font=”Bebas Neue||||||||” header_2_text_color=”#FFFFFF” header_2_font_size=”52px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” header_2_font_size_tablet=”32px” header_2_font_size_phone=”20px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}”]

CAMBRIDGE AND FIRST STEPS INTO OPERA<\/span><\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”_initial” text_text_color=”gcid-5a92b32a-7eb7-4cbf-bdc6-bfe5157d88a2″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” hover_enabled=”0″ text_font_size_tablet=”15px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-5a92b32a-7eb7-4cbf-bdc6-bfe5157d88a2%22:%91%22text_text_color%22%93}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

My school in Oxford was a Comprehensive that in my final year got 14 pupils into Oxbridge. I studied Religious Studies and then Philosophy at Cambridge, where a chance audition for a college tenor position shifted my path from academic life toward professional singing. After completing a PGCE, I produced Purcell\u2019s King Arthur<\/em> in the open air at Corpus Christi Old Court which toured to the Minack Theatre (the first ever opera produced there), balancing college with early musical projects and discovering a growing pull toward opera.<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”_initial” header_2_font=”Bebas Neue||||||||” header_2_text_color=”#FFFFFF” header_2_font_size=”52px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” header_2_font_size_tablet=”32px” header_2_font_size_phone=”20px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}”]

CONSERVATOIRE TRAINING<\/span><\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”_initial” text_text_color=”gcid-5a92b32a-7eb7-4cbf-bdc6-bfe5157d88a2″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” hover_enabled=”0″ text_font_size_tablet=”15px” text_font_size_phone=”14px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{%22gcid-5a92b32a-7eb7-4cbf-bdc6-bfe5157d88a2%22:%91%22text_text_color%22%93}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

I trained at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, developing the technical foundation that would support the next two decades of my career.<\/span><\/p>\n

I sang various roles at college, including Mozart in Mozart and Salieri, Dorvil in La Scala di Seta.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a performance of me as Guillot in Manon (first voice heard on stage, to the right) as a student at the RNCM in 1987. Some great friends and voices were in that show. Simon Keenlyside, Sally Harrison, Kate Witney, etc!! I went on as a last minute understudy!<\/span><\/p>\n

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