Clive Barda

Barda was born in 1945 and spent his early childhood in Alexandria, Egypt, where his father was a lawyer and his mother a painter. The family returned to England in 1956.Exhibition leaflet for An Eye for an Ear. Royal Festival Hall, London (1 March – 8 April 1979).{{rp|4}} Barda attended Bryanston School and graduated from Birkbeck College, University of London (BA Hons Modern Langs),{{cite web |title= Artists and photographers |url= https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/artists-and-photographers-028nldlqf3w |publisher= The Times |website= The Times |date= 5 January 2004 |access-date= 29 August 2016}} aspiring to apply his knowledge of modern languages as a commodities broker in the City.{{cite book|last= Barda |first= Clive |year= 2000 |title= Performance! Musicians in Photographs |location= London |publisher= Peter Biddulph|isbn= 978-0952-01094-4}}{{rp|19}} His early interest in photography was mostly documentary; while studying for his degree, he travelled to Romania to photograph the painted monasteries of Moldavia.{{rp|20}} When he was twenty, following a friend's suggestion, he attended his first concert of classical music: an evening of Viennese music conducted by John Barbirolli. Soon after, he started attending concerts several times per week, and listening regularly to BBC Radio 3.{{rp|20}}

Barda decided to combine his interests in photography and classical music, and a chance encounter with a journalist for South Wales Magazine led to his first commission: photographing the harpist Susan Drake at home, on 12 November 1968.{{rp|21}}{{cite web |title= Susan Drake |publisher= Hyperion Records |url= http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A389 |website= hyperion-records.co.uk/ |access-date= 2 September 2016}} At the time, Drake's husband, John Wilbraham,{{cite web |title= John Wilbraham |publisher= Antony Kearns

|url= http://johnwilbraham.co.uk/ |website= johnwilbraham.co.uk |date= 2016 |access-date= 5 September 2016 |df= dmy}} was recording the Haydn and Hummel trumpet concertos and the producer asked Barda to shoot the album's sleeve.{{cite AV media |people= John Wilbraham |title= JOHN WILBRAHAM Plays Hummel; Albrechtsberger; Leopold Mozart. |medium= LP |publisher= Argo |date= 1970

|url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/WILBRAHAM-Hummel-Albrechtsberger-Leopold-Mozart/dp/B00NIMA9RG/ref=sr_1_21?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1473147271&sr=1-21&keywords=John+Wilbraham |location= London |website= amazon.co.uk}} Retrieved on 6 September 2016. Drake then showed Barda's work to her agent, who recommended him to other artists, thus opening up opportunities for further engagements.{{rp|21}} Within a few months, Barda had his big break:

{{quote|text=In 1969, I went to a concert at London's South Bank, where pianist Daniel Barenboim and the cellist Jacqueline du Pré were playing Beethoven sonatas. (...) Barenboim was the most famous musician I had come close to and I decided to ask if I could photograph him conducting. To my amazement, Barenboim said "OK".|author=Clive Barda|title=Performance! Musicians in Photographs|source="An Interview with Clive Barda" by Graeme Kay}}The rehearsal took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hall the following Tuesday, and Barda showed the resulting contact sheets to Barenboim a few days later, in the Royal Festival Hall's green room. There, he also met Peter Andry, a senior executive at EMI, who suggested that Barda show his pictures to the art department at EMI. This immediately led to Barda's first major commission: to photograph Yehudi Menuhin, at EMI's No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road.{{rp|21}}

File:Sarah Beth Briggs playing the piano Ref no 100929 0069 briggs lradj.jpg (29 September 2010) by Barda]]

During the following decades, Barda has portrayed the world's leading classical musicians, as well as performers in opera, dance, theatre and musicals,{{cite web

|first= Charlotte |last= Higgins |title= The classical picture show |quote= Clive Barda has been photographing the great and good of classical music for more than three decades, shooting 750,000 pictures. |url= https://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,3605,411279,00.html |website= The Guardian |date= 15 December 2000 |access-date= 29 August 2016}} as a freelance photographer.{{cite book |year= 2015 |title= Who's Who |chapter= Barda, Clive Blackmore, (Born 14 Jan. 1945), freelance photographer, since 1968 |location= Oxford |publisher= OUP Oxford |doi= 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U2000076 |isbn= 978-0199-54088-4 |url= http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U2000076}} In her review of Barda's book Performance! (2000) for The Guardian, Charlotte Higgins stated:

{{quote|text=Over the past 30 years, Barda has photographed anyone who is anyone in music, from late, great luminaries such as Lucia Popp, Olivier Messiaen, Benjamin Britten and Charles Groves to today's young stars such as Evgeny Kissin, David Daniels and Cecilia Bartoli.|author=Charlotte Higgins|title=The classical picture show}}

Barda has been closely associated with major British locations, such as the

Barbican Hall,

Edinburgh International Festival,

English National Opera,

Glyndebourne Festival Opera,

Her Majesty's Theatre,

National Theatre,

Opera North,

Queen Elizabeth Hall,

Queen's Hall,

Royal Albert Hall,

Royal Festival Hall,

Royal Lyceum Theatre,

Royal Opera House,

Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon,

St John's, Smith Square,

Usher Hall,

and Welsh National Opera.{{cite book|last= Barda |first= Clive |year= 2012 |title= Exposure! Retrospective Photographic Exhibition |location= London |publisher= Orange Advertising Ltd}}

He has also worked abroad: in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, the U.S., and China. He has taken photographs during rehearsals and recordings in the studios of AIR Studios, the BBC, CBS, EMI's Abbey Road Studios, Olympic Studios, among others, as well as at the home venues of major orchestras such as the LSO.

By 2012, Barda had already produced more than a million photographs,{{cite book|last= Kay |first= Graeme |year= 2012 |title= Exposure! Retrospective Photographic Exhibition |chapter= An interview with Clive Barda |location= London |publisher= Peter Biddulph |via= Orange Advertising Ltd}}{{rp|6}} and has been referred to as the doyen of British music photography.{{cite web |first= Bill |last= Knight

|title= Clive Barda – working photographer |publisher= Photomonitor |website= photomonitor.co.uk |url= https://www.photomonitor.co.uk/clive-barda-working-photographer/ |date= March 2019 |access-date= 29 March 2019}}

File:Scott Ellaway conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in 2006 (Photo by Clive Barda).jpg conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in Guildford (18 March 2006) by Barda]]

When commissioned for a project, Barda asks what music will be played, since it is his understanding of the piece that will enable him to anticipate the decisive split second at which a good picture might be taken. As he explained: "Music is constantly punctuated. (...) There are narrative passages, there are peaks and troughs. The pictures occur at the peaks, the climaxes. Even if you don't know the music—though it helps if you do—you develop a sixth sense for these highs."

Vladimir Ashkenazy has stated that one of the secrets of Barda’s success "is his rare gift of being unnoticed, discreet and unobtrusive while doing his work."{{rp|7}}

{{quote|text=The fact that I often spent hours with the artists and was perceived as a member of the recording team fed into my work in a number of ways (...) bolstering my sense of affinity with the musicians and their work.|author=Clive Barda|title=Performance! Musicians in Photographs|source="An Interview with Clive Barda" by Graeme Kay}}

In 1970, Barda married Rosalind Mary Whiteley; they have three sons.

After a decade as a professional photographer, Barda began to exhibit his work, in the UK and abroad:

• 1979 – An Eye for an Ear. Royal Festival Hall, London (1 March – 8 April 1979){{rp|19}}{{cite book|last= Barda |first= Clive |title= Music in Focus — The Ealing Valentine Festival of Music & Film |date= 14 February 2013}}{{rp|i}}
• 1980 – An Eye for an Ear. Manchester, England{{rp|19}}{{rp|i}}
• 1981 – An Eye for an Ear. Perth, Australia (7 February – 2 March 1981){{rp|19}}{{rp|i}}Exhibition leaflet for An Eye for an Ear. Perth Concert Hall, Perth (7 February – 2 March 1981). Hempstead & Associates.
• 1981 – An Eye for an Ear. Adelaide, Australia{{rp|19}}{{rp|i}}
• 1985 – Science Museum, London (with Lord Snowdon and Patrick Lichfield){{rp|19}}{{rp|i}}
• 1985 – Royal Photographic Society, Bath, England (with Lord Snowdon and Patrick Lichfield){{rp|19}}{{rp|i}}
• 1988 – Solo exhibition at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, England{{rp|19}}{{rp|i}}
• 1996 – Bravura! Wigmore Hall, London (9 March – 10 April 1996)Exhibition leaflet for Bravura!. Wigmore Hall, London (9 March – 10 April 1996).
• 1996 – Music to the Eye. Inaugural exhibition at Nagaoka Lyric Hall, Japan (3 November – 23 December 1996){{rp|19}}{{rp|i}}Exhibition leaflet for Music to the Eye. Nagaoka Lyric Hall, Japan (3 November – 23 December 1996).
• 2001 – Edinburgh International Festival, Scotland{{rp|19}}{{rp|i}}
• 2001 – Cheltenham Literary Festival, England{{rp|19}}{{rp|i}}
• 2001 – Baroco Gallery, Paris, France{{rp|i}}
• 2003 – Black & White Photography. The Van Ludwig Art Gallery, Dorking, England (17 May – 22 June 2003)Exhibition leaflet for Black & White Photography. The Van Ludwig Art Gallery, Dorking, England (17 May – 22 June 2003).
• 2005 – Permanent exhibition Wigmore Hall, London{{rp|i}}{{cite web

| first = Charlotte

| last = Higgins

| title = Permanent show opens of photographer's portraits

| quote = A permanent exhibition of 38 of Barda's photos is to be unveiled tomorrow in the Bechstein Room of the Wigmore Hall in London, each depicting a regular "Wigmore artist"...

| url = https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/mar/28/arts.artsnews

| website = The Guardian

| date = 28 March 2005

| access-date = 10 November 2016}}

• 2012 – Exposure!:{{rp|i}}{{cite web

| first = Lottie

| last = Butler

| title = Major retrospective planned of the work of photographer Clive Barda

| url = http://www.roh.org.uk/news/major-retrospective-planned-of-the-work-of-photographer-clive-barda

| publisher = Royal Opera House

| website = roh.org.uk

| date = 6 September 2012

| access-date = 31 August 2016}}

• Guangzhou Opera House (31 March-1 July 2012), China
• National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing (5-19 April 2012), China
• Hangzhou Grand Theatre (10 April-10 May 2012), China
• Cambridge Summer Music Festival (17-22 July 2012), England
• Royal Opera House at Thurrock (14-20 October 2012), England
• Tap Seac Gallery (1 November-9 December 2012), Macao{{cite web

| title = Exposure! Clive Barda - A Retrospective Photographic Exhibition

| url = http://www.mask9.com/node/71402

| publisher = Macao Cultural Institute

| website = mask9.com

| access-date = 31 August 2016}}

• 2013 – Music in Focus. Ealing Music and Film Valentine Festival (14-17 February 2013){{rp|i}}{{cite web

| first = Michael

| last = Russell

| title = Globally acclaimed photographer to hold exhibition

| url = http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/whats-on/film-tv/globally-acclaimed-photographer-hold-exhibition-5970666

| publisher = Get West London

| website = getwestlondon.co.uk

| date = 24 January 2013

| access-date = 31 August 2016}}

In 1990, Barda founded the Performing Arts Library (PAL), to showcase his own collection and the work of other photographers specializing in the arts.{{rp|19}} This project evolved into ArenaPAL in 1997.

Barda's work is also held in the following public collections:

• National Media Museum in Bradford, England
• Wigmore Hall, in London
• National Portrait Gallery in London

• {{cite book|last= Barda |first= Clive |year= 1996

|title= Celebration! Edinburgh International Festival. 50 Years In Photos.

|location= Edinburgh |publisher= Edinburgh Festival Society}} ASIN B00164U1LW.

• {{cite book|last= Barda |first= Clive |year= 2000 |title= Performance! Musicians in Photographs |location= London |publisher= Peter Biddulph |author-mask = 1

|isbn= 978-09520109-4-4}}

• {{cite book

|last= Hughes

|first= Graham

|others= Photographs by Clive Barda.

|year= 1974

|title= Sculpture of David Wynne, 1968-74

|location= London

|publisher= Phaidon Press

|isbn= 978-0-7148-1653-1

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Perry

|first= George

|others= Photographs by Clive Barda.

|year= 1987

|edition=first

|title= The Complete Phantom of the Opera

|location= London

|publisher= Pavilion Books

|isbn= 978-1-85145-226-2

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Ganzl

|first= Kurt

|others= Photographs by Clive Barda.

|year= 1990

|edition= first

|title= The Complete Aspects of Love

|location= London

|publisher= Penguin Books

|isbn= 978-0-670-83192-0

|url-access= registration

|url= https://archive.org/details/completeaspectso00ganz

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Hart

|first= Charles

|others= Photographs by Clive Barda.

|year= 1990

|title= The Phantom of the Opera Theatre Programme - Her Majesty's Theatre

|location= London

|publisher= Cameron Mackintosh

|asin= B005QB1C0K

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Leech

|first= Caroline

|others= Photographs by Clive Barda.

|year= 2006

|title= Welsh National Opera: Celebrating the First 60 Years

|location= Cardiff

|publisher= Graffeg

|isbn= 978-1-905582-00-6

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Kahn

|first= Gary

|others= Photographs by Clive Barda.

|year= 2012

|title= The Power of The Ring - Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Royal Opera House

|location= London

|publisher= Royal Opera House

|isbn= 978-0-946338-04-7

}}

• {{cite book|last= Barda |first= Clive |year= 2012 |title= Exposure! Retrospective Photographic Exhibition |location= London |publisher= Orange Advertising }}
• {{cite book|last= Barda |first= Clive |title= Music in Focus — The Ealing Valentine Festival of Music & Film |date= 14 February 2013 |location= London |author-mask = 1 }}

• Trailer for Philippe Monnet's Clive Barda - Photographer (2012){{cite AV media

| author = Philippe Monnet

| date = 5 February 2012 |df= dmy

| title = Trailer for Philippe Monnet's Clive Barda - Photographer

| medium = Trailer

| language = en

| url = http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqjlxc_trailer-for-philippe-monnet-s-clive-barda-photographer_music

| access-date = 31 August 2016

| location = London

| publisher = dailymotion.com

}}

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
• OBE in the 2016 New Year Honours list, for services to photography.{{cite web

| title = New Year's Honours 2016: CSV

| url = https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/489050/NewYearHonoursList2016.csv/preview

| publisher = UK Cabinet Office

| website = www.gov.uk

| date = 30 December 2015

| access-date = 30 August 2016}}

• Honorary fellowship of the Musicians' Company, July 2016.{{cite web

| first = Katy

| last = Wright

| title = Clive Barda receives 2016 Musicians' Company fellowship

| url = http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/classical_music/clive-barda-receives-2016-musicians-company-fellowship/

| publisher = Rhinegold Publishing

| website = rhinegold.co.uk

| date = 15 July 2016

| access-date = 30 August 2016}}

• List of photographs by Clive Barda

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|www.clivebarda.com}}
• "[https://www.arenapal.com/photographers/clive-barda-photographer/ Clive Barda - Classical Music Photographer]" at ArenaPAL
• {{Discogs artist|Clive Barda}}
• [https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2012/oct/16/clive-barda-conductor-singer-photographs?page=with:img-1 From Domingo to Dudamel: Clive Barda's best photos - in pictures] at theguardian.com
• [https://photomonitor.co.uk/essay/clive-barda-working-photographer/ Clive Barda – working photographer.] at photomonitor.co.uk

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Category:British portrait photographers

Category:Concert photographers

Category:1945 births

Category:Photographers from London

Category:Living people

Category:People educated at Bryanston School

Category:Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire