News

Vivian Barber - Principal Flute

23 October 2011

Vivian attended the Royal College of Music, studying the flute under the direction of Alexa Turpin, before taking a degree in Music and French at Keele University. During this time,  she was a soloist at the Royal Festival Hall and then spent a year in Paris where she studied at the Conservatoire , before joining the Farnborough Symphony Orchestra on her return.

Until taking a career break to raise three children, she was a full-time teacher and invested considerable energy in directing a range of school productions such as Godspell, Oklahoma and Jesus Christ Superstar. During this period, she was also a peripatetic flute teacher and tutored the Surrey Youth Orchestra.

She has had a varied musical career, playing in several ensembles, singing and playing keyboards in bands, performing in amateur dramatics as well as directing musical shows. She now makes the occasional professional appearance playing the flute and spends time chaperoning in the West End, where  her eldest son, Daniel (11), has performed roles such as Tiny Tim in Scrooge, Michael Banks in Mary Poppins, Gavroche in Les Miserables and is currently appearing with Rowan Atkinson in Oliver.

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