Barry Wordsworth

Barry Wordsworth built a distinguished conducting career upon deep roots in ballet, first gaining widespread recognition when he assumed the post of music director at the Royal Ballet Covent Garden. Over a span of many decades he has appeared with leading ballet troupes and orchestras on several continents.

Born on 2 February 1948 in Surrey, England, into a household without musical traditions, Wordsworth nevertheless displayed an early and intense interest in the art. Piano lessons followed, and at thirteen he entered Trinity College of Music, where Gladys Puttick guided his studies. He later continued at the Royal College of Music under Sir Adrian Boult. While still a student there he seized his initial chance to lead an orchestra: when the school’s head of music fell ill just before a planned performance of Handel’s Messiah by the combined forces of his all-boys’ school and its neighboring all-girls’ school, the prefect volunteered to conduct, and the concert proceeded without interruption—an experience that proved decisive for his future. He subsequently traveled to Amsterdam for further instruction on piano and harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt.

Wordsworth’s first ballet engagement arrived at twenty-two, when he played harpsichord for Kenneth MacMillan’s Las Hermanas at the Royal Ballet Covent Garden, set to Frank Martin’s Harpsichord Concerto. Although that production proved brief, his association with the company endured. In 1972 he became assistant conductor of its touring ensemble; the next year he was appointed principal conductor of the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, which later relocated to Birmingham and was renamed the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He held that post until 1984. Returning to the Royal Ballet Covent Garden as music director in 1990, he remained until 1995. In 2005 he rejoined the Birmingham Royal Ballet in the same capacity, serving until 2008. Two years earlier he had once again taken the helm at the Royal Ballet Covent Garden, continuing until 2015, when he was named principal guest conductor.

Parallel to his ballet commitments, Wordsworth achieved notable success on the concert platform. Beginning in 1989 he simultaneously directed both the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra. His tenure with the BBC ensemble, which concluded in 2006, included regular appearances at the BBC Proms, among them the celebrated “Last Night of the Proms” in 1993. At Brighton he served as only the third principal conductor in the orchestra’s history, remaining until 2015; both ensembles later conferred upon him the title of conductor laureate. Additional engagements have taken him to the Philharmonia, London Symphony, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as to the Toronto Symphony, the Sydney Symphony, and the Seoul Philharmonic.

An extensive discography documents his work, encompassing dozens of releases on which he appears as conductor and many more on which he is featured. Recordings have appeared on major labels including Naxos, Decca, ABC Classics, and Somm. Two albums issued in 2018 illustrate the range of his activity: Léo Delibes: Coppélia, recorded with the Orchestra Victoria on ABC Classics, and Elgar: The Hills of Dreamland – Orchestral Songs, made with the BBC Concert Orchestra on Somm.