11 Facts About Clive Barda

Clive Blackmore Barda OBE, FRSA was born on 14 January 1945 and is a London-based, British freelance photographer best known for capturing the performances of classical musicians and artists of the stage.

Clive Barda was born in 1945 and spent his early childhood in Alexandria, Egypt, where his father was a lawyer and his mother a painter.

Clive Barda attended Bryanston School and graduated from Birkbeck College, University of London, aspiring to apply his knowledge of modern languages as a commodities broker in the City.

Clive 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.

The rehearsal took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hall the following Tuesday, and Clive Barda showed the resulting contact sheets to Barenboim a few days later, in the Royal Festival Hall's green room.

Clive Barda has been closely associated with major British locations, such as the Barbican Hall, Edinburgh International Festival, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Her Majesty's Theatre, National Theatre, Opera North, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Queen's Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, St John's, Smith Square, Usher Hall, and Welsh National Opera.

Clive Barda has worked abroad: in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, the US, and China.

Clive Barda 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.

When commissioned for a project, Clive 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.

In 1970, Clive Barda married Rosalind Mary Whiteley; they have three sons.

In 1990, Clive Barda founded the Performing Arts Library, to showcase his own collection and the work of other photographers specializing in the arts.