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David Barnard (Pianist)

David Barnard is a British-Australian collaborative pianist who is noted for his work with Sarah Fox, Lesley Garrett and Richard Suart. He is currently the Head Accompanist & Vocal Coach at the New Zealand School of Music-Te Kōki.

Early Life

David was brought up in Aldinga Beach, South Australia and attended both Aldinga Primary and Southern Vales Christian College before leaving to study at the Flinders Street School of Music, Adelaide at the age of 15.

Early Musical Study

In 1997, David commenced his undergraduate degree study in classical solo performance with Diana Harris OAM while completing a minor in piano accompanying.

David was the recipient of the Winston Music Keyboard Prize, The Milf Marder (Adelaide Eisteddfod) “Most Promising Pianist”, the Christchurch North Adelaide Scholarship and Helpmann Academy / Adelaide Institute “Outstanding Achievement During Study” award.

During his final year of undergraduate studies, he was engaged by the State Opera of South Australia as a junior opera repetiteur.

UK Career & Life

Through his parental British background, David pursued a career in the UK as an opera repetiteur, accompanist and vocal coach. At 22, he met Malcolm Martineau and they lived together in London between 2005-2009.

David was accepted into British Youth Opera’s 2007 and 2008 seasons as repetiteur, which included working on the London premiere of Jonathan Dove’s opera Flight at the Peacock Theatre, London.

David was invited to Buckingham Palace in 2011 to attend a reception of “Significant Australians Living and Working in the UK”.

Festival appearances included the Oxford Lieder Festival with Sarah Fox, Leeds Lieder+ Festival with Deborah Norman and Charlotte Tetley, as well as cabaret-style appearances in the Buxton and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals.

In 2013, David was appointed chief repetiteur for Opera North’s production of La Voix Humaine, starring Lesley Garrett in the role of Elle. David was also engaged as accompanist by Lesley Garrett between 2009 - 2013 and they performed extensively together in the UK.

Return to Australia & New Zealand

In 2013, David was appointed to the State Opera of South Australia as Head of Music - a position he held until 2015, before leaving to join the classical performance staff at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. David was award a 50th Anniversary Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship in 2015.

In early 2019, David was appointed to the New Zealand School of Music, as part of the permanent staff at Victoria University Wellington.

Category:Australian classical pianists