Clive Blackmore BardaOBE, FRSA (born 14 January 1945) is a London-based, British freelance photographer[1] best known for capturing the performances of classical musicians and artists of the stage (opera, ballet and theatre). During his career spanning over five decades, Barda has created a collection of over a million photographs of performers, composers, and conductors.
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.[2]:4 Barda attended Bryanston School and graduated from Birkbeck College, University of London (BA Hons Modern Langs),[3] aspiring to apply his knowledge of modern languages as a commodities broker in the City.[4]: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.[4]: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.[4]:20
Career
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.[4]:21[5] At the time, Drake's husband, John Wilbraham,[6] was recording the Haydn and Hummel trumpet concertos and the producer asked Barda to shoot the album's sleeve.[7] Drake then showed Barda's work to her agent, who recommended him to other artists, thus opening up opportunities for further engagements.[4]:21 Within a few months, Barda had his big break:
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".
—Clive Barda, Performance! Musicians in Photographs, "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.[4]:21
During the following decades, Barda has portrayed the world's leading classical musicians, as well as performers in opera, dance, theatre and musicals,[8] as a freelance photographer.[9] In her review of Barda's book Performance! (2000) for The Guardian, Charlotte Higgins stated:
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.[4][10]
By 2012, Barda had already produced more than a million photographs,[11]:6 and has been referred to as the doyen of British music photography.[12]
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."[8]
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."[4]:7
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.
—Clive Barda, Performance! Musicians in Photographs, "An Interview with Clive Barda" by Graeme Kay
Personal life
In 1970, Barda married Rosalind Mary Whiteley; they have three sons.[3]
Exhibitions
After a decade as a professional photographer, Barda began to exhibit his work, in the UK and abroad:
Tap Seac Gallery (1 November-9 December 2012), Macao[20]
2013 – Music in Focus. Ealing Music and Film Valentine Festival (14-17 February 2013)[13]:i[21]
Collections
In 1990, Barda founded the Performing Arts Library (PAL), to showcase his own collection and the work of other photographers specializing in the arts.[4]:19 This project evolved into ArenaPAL in 1997.
Barda's work is also held in the following public collections:[19]
Hart, Charles (1990). The Phantom of the Opera Theatre Programme - Her Majesty's Theatre. Photographs by Clive Barda. London: Cameron Mackintosh. ASINB005QB1C0K.
Leech, Caroline (2006). Welsh National Opera: Celebrating the First 60 Years. Photographs by Clive Barda. Cardiff: Graffeg. ISBN978-1-905582-00-6.
Kahn, Gary (2012). The Power of The Ring - Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Royal Opera House. Photographs by Clive Barda. London: Royal Opera House. ISBN978-0-946338-04-7.
Barda, Clive (14 February 2013). Music in Focus — The Ealing Valentine Festival of Music & Film. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Filmography
Trailer for Philippe Monnet's Clive Barda - Photographer (2012)[22]
Daniel Barenboim is an Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. From 1992 until January 2023, Barenboim was the general music director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeister" of its orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin.
Jacqueline Mary du Pré was a British cellist, considered by many as one of the greatest of all time. Achieving mainstream popularity at a young age, du Pré won Britain's most prestigious cello award at age 11, made her adult debut at 17, and became a fully established artist by 20. At 21, she married the acclaimed conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, forming a celebrated musical couple.
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References
↑ "Clive Barda". clivebarda.com. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
1 2 Exhibition leaflet for An Eye for an Ear. Royal Festival Hall, London (1 March – 8 April 1979).
1 2 3 Higgins, Charlotte (15 December 2000). "The classical picture show". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 August 2016. Clive Barda has been photographing the great and good of classical music for more than three decades, shooting 750,000 pictures.
↑ Exhibition leaflet for An Eye for an Ear. Perth Concert Hall, Perth (7 February – 2 March 1981). Hempstead & Associates.
↑ Exhibition leaflet for Bravura!. Wigmore Hall, London (9 March – 10 April 1996).
↑ Exhibition leaflet for Music to the Eye. Nagaoka Lyric Hall, Japan (3 November – 23 December 1996).
↑ Exhibition leaflet for Black & White Photography. The Van Ludwig Art Gallery, Dorking, England (17 May – 22 June 2003).
↑ Higgins, Charlotte (28 March 2005). "Permanent show opens of photographer's portraits". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2016. 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"...
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