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The British-born Australian pianist, Trevor Barnard, began piano lessons at the age of 4 and while still very young was admitted to the Royal Academy of Music, London. This was followed by several years of private study with Herbert Fryer, a student of Ferruccio Busoni. At the age of 16 he was awarded the ARCM Diploma in Piano, and later won a full scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London. Subsequently, he undertook intensive master-class study with Harold Craxton.
Between 1967 and 1972 Trevor Barnard lived in the USA, where he was a faculty member of the New England Conservatory in Boston (1968-1972) and Pianist-in-Residence to Boston University Radio (1967-1971). He undertook many concert and TV engagements in Boston and New York City. On moving to Melbourne in 1972 he became piano tutor at Monash University. From 1974 to 1988 he taught full-time consecutively at the Melbourne State College and the Melbourne College of Advanced Education, and from 1989 at The University of Melbourne until his retirement at the end of 2003.
As a concert artist Trevor Barnard has appeared with several of the top British orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and various BBC orchestras. In Australia he has toured and broadcast frequently for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on radio and TV, and on three occasions was the featured concerto soloist on their TV programme World of Music.
Trevor Barnard's discography includes a "best seller" solo album for The World Record Club An Introduction to Piano Music (now re-issued, with bonus tracks, as A Piano Odyssey on Diversions). He made the first stereo recording of the Arthur Bliss Piano Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Sir Malcolm Sargent (EMI), which was re-issued in digitally remastered format by Divine Art early in the year 2000. Divine Art have also released Trevor's CD of the Arthur Bliss Sonata and the première commercial recording of the 24 Preludes, Op. 37 by Ferruccio Busoni. American composer Richard St. Clair, and Australian composers, Geoffrey Allen, Michael Bertram and Felix Werder, have written works especially for him. The first of the Felix Werder works appears in Trevor's début solo CD on The Divine Art label of J.S. Bach transcriptions and modern Australian piano music. Trevors most recent release Blue Wrens by the same label of Australian compositions includes the Dorian Le Gallienne Sonata and with it, appearing on commercial disc for the first time, the other Felix Werder work and the remaining Australian works that are dedicated to him.
Trevor Barnard is the author of an American-published repertoire guide A Practical Guide to Solo Piano Music, published in 2006 by Meredith Music Publications. He has also contributed several pedagogical papers to the former leading USA keyboard journal Clavier and its successor Clavier Companion, the only academic in Australia to do so in recent memory. His book Neglected Areas of Piano Teaching was published by Diversions Books, a Divine Art imprint, in 2008. Piano magazine (UK) said of it: "Good advice abounds, much of it grounded in pure common sense and all of it presented with a simplicity that never hints at condescension."
Trevor Barnard is an examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board, and was a regular contributor to the former Australian Music Teacher journal. He is also an experienced adjudicator, and, along with many eisteddfodau, has adjudicated the ABC Young Performers' competition on a number of occasions. |
