Barry Tuckwell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Barry Tuckwell
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Tuckwell in 2008
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| Background information | |
| Born | 5 March 1931 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 16 January 2020 (aged 88) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Genres | classical |
| Occupation(s) | soloist, conductor, teacher |
| Instruments | French horn |
| Years active | 1946–1997 |
Barry Emmanuel Tuckwell (March 5, 1931 – January 16, 2020) was a very famous Australian French horn player. He spent most of his amazing career in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Contents
Barry Tuckwell's Early Life
Barry Tuckwell was born on March 5, 1931, in Melbourne, Australia. His younger sister, Patricia, was a talented violinist and a well-known fashion model.
Barry started as a choir singer at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney. There, he learned to play the piano, organ, and violin. When he was 13, he began to learn the French horn. Amazingly, after only six months, he was already playing it professionally! He studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Alan Mann, a famous brass player in Australia.
His Career as a Musician
Playing in Orchestras
When Barry was just 15, he got a job as the third horn player with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. A year later, he joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, led by Eugene Goossens. He stayed there for three and a half years before moving to England.
In 1951, he joined the Hallé Orchestra in England. After two years, he moved to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and then to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In 1955, he became the main horn player for the famous London Symphony Orchestra.
Barry played with the London Symphony Orchestra for 13 years. This orchestra is special because the musicians themselves make decisions about how it is run. Barry was even elected to their Board of Directors and was the Chairman for six years.
Performing as a Soloist
In 1968, Barry left the orchestra to become a full-time soloist and conductor. He became very famous, making over 50 recordings and getting three Grammy Award nominations.
In 1962, he formed a music group with Brenton Langbein (violin) and Maureen Jones (piano). They played together for many years, performing music by composers like Johannes Brahms and Charles Koechlin. Barry also played in a wind quintet and was known for his conducting skills.
Many composers wrote special pieces of music just for Barry Tuckwell. These included concertos (pieces for a solo instrument and orchestra) by Oliver Knussen, Don Banks, Gunther Schuller, Robin Holloway, and Thea Musgrave. Richard Rodney Bennett wrote a piece called "Acteon" for horn and a large orchestra especially for him.
Books Barry Tuckwell Wrote
Barry Tuckwell also wrote three important books about the horn and how to play it. He wrote a book about the horn for the Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides. He also wrote an excellent book called Playing the Horn and another one called Fifty First Exercises.
Barry Tuckwell as a Teacher
Barry Tuckwell was also a highly respected teacher. He taught at Dartmouth College and Pomona College in the USA. He was a Professor of Horn at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1963 to 1974. Later, he taught at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore in the 1980s and 1990s. He also taught at the University of Melbourne and hosted an annual event called the Barry Tuckwell Institute in Colorado.
His Final Years
Barry Tuckwell passed away on January 16, 2020, in Melbourne, Australia, at the age of 88.
Awards and Honours
Barry Tuckwell received many important awards for his contributions to music. These included the Order of the British Empire in 1965 and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1992.
Images for kids
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Learn more about Barry Tuckwell in Spanish!
