Prof. Barrie Webb

Biography

BARRIE WEBB read Music at Cambridge University, afterwards studying trombone with Vinko Globokar and conducting with Constantin Bugeanu. His worldwide solo performances include broadcasts by the BBC, Radio France, RAI (Italy), RRTV (Romania), ABC (Australia) etc. Since 1995 he has begun to document his repertoire on CD for Radio France/MFA, MPS (UK), Move (Australia), METIER (UK) and Col Legno (Germany). His latest solo CDs include The Japan Project (METIER, 2002) - well reviewed in The Sunday Times and featured on BBC Radio 3, Romanian Trombone Concertos (METIER, 2004) and Hoy! (MPS, 2006) - new works for trombone and percussion from Australia and the Philippines, performed and recorded in Melbourne. He recently recorded Contemporary Classics for Trombone (due for release in 2008) to feature representative works from the 1950s to the present day.

Recent concert highlights include, in 2003, a broadcast performance of Donald Erb's Concerto and the world premiere Vladimir Scolnic's Time Interferences for trombone and orchestra (broadcast on national radio in three countries and published on CD). In August 2004 he gave the second performance (and made the first ever recording) of René Leibowitz's Concertino with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at Tokyo's Suntory Hall, broadcast on NHK in November 2004. And in 2005 he visited Australia again to give a concert of Australian and Japanese music with Michael Kieran Harvey and Peter Neville, broadcast by the ABC. In November 2005 he gave solo performances at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, including Takemitsu's concerto Fantasma / Cantos II.

Since 1988 Barrie Webb has pursued a parallel career as conductor, appearing with orchestras and ensembles in Europe, Australia, Asia and the USA, directing a variety of classical and contemporary repertoire, including numerous premieres. His orchestral conducting engagements include televised concerts in Romania and Moldova, premieres of Walton and Britten in Taiwan, performances of Mozart in Spain, and a conducting residency in Melbourne. He has recorded for the BBC, and on CD for MPS, METIER, BML (UK), Ricordi (Italy), UCMR and Editura Muzicală (Romania) and Vienna Modern Masters.

Current projects include a performance / recording project with eight Korean composers, dues for CD release in 2008, and an ongoing project of new works for trombone and string quartet (with Australia's Silo Quartet.)

Barrie Webb is Professor of Music at the University of Huddersfield, where he teaches conducting, composition and trombone and directs the University's performance programme. From 1984 until 1994 he taught at the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, from 1993 until 2002 at the Dartington International Summer School. Since 2000, Barrie Webb has made numerous concert and educational appearances in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and Australia.

In 2007 he was guest editor for an issue of the Contemporary Music Review, for which he completed three articles on the subject of contemporary performance.

Research & Scholarship

Solo performance: the development of new repertoire for solo trombone, outcomes expressed as CD recordings, concert performances, related writings. Conducting: performance of new works for orchestra and ensemble, outcomes expressed as CD recordings, concert performances.

Research Outputs

Areas for Research Supervision

Contemporary performance

Contemporary trombone performance

The development of new repertoire for trombone

Conducting methodology