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Ralph Barnes was
born in Cheltenham in 1979 and educated at Rendcomb College, Gloucestershire.
He studied singing with Julia Morris and sang in the college choir.
He was a chorister with Christ Church Choir, Cheltenham and St Philip and St James Church, Leckhampton.
In 1994 he was privileged to sing in Westminster Abbey with the Choir of St Philip and St James for an evensong service in August. In the same year he enjoyed his first operatic experience in the chorus of Bizet's Carmen with Cirencester Opera.
Ralph graduated from Roehampton University London in 2001 with a BA Hons Degree in Drama with Theatre Studies and Music. His singing tutor was the reknowned Tenor Michael Goldthorpe who sang with Joan Sutherland in a televised performance of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at Covent Garden in 1980.
Ralph performed in many concerts and solo recitals and studied choral conducting under the mentorship of Dr Colin Durrant.
Ralph sang with The Churchdown Male Voice Choir in Washington Cathedral in September 2000. They also performed at The Basilica in Baltimore and with The U.S Army Mens Chorus at Fort Meyer. He has also performed abroad in Barcelona, Bavaria, and Elba.
In December 2000, The Goldsmiths Choral Union, one of London's leading amateur choirs gave Ralph the opportunity to perform with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at The Royal Festival Hall in London at a Christmas Concert for BBC Radio 2 followed soon after by Handel's Messiah with The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in The Royal Albert Hall. From September 2001 to March 2003 he was a member of one of Gloucestershire's premier chamber choirs The Cappella Singers. In May 2002 they gave a concert at Malmesbury Abbey at the invitation of the Malmesbury Abbey Music Society to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
Ralph sang with The Philomusica of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire from September 2001 to April 2004, and in 2003 he was made Assistant Musical Director of Churchdown Male Voice Choir where he happily enjoys performing in concerts as a soloist and conductor . In December 2003, he sang solo at a concert in Gloucester Cathedral that was broadcast on BBC Radio Gloucestershire on Christmas Day. Ralph became a member of Cheltenham's leading operatic society The Cotswold Savoyards in 2004 and has performed two leading roles so far. In the following year, he performed in a duet with Jemima Phillips, Royal Harpist to His Highness The Prince of Wales at The Pittville Pump Rooms, Cheltenham.
Since 1984 he has been a competitor at The Cheltenham Festival winning prizes for poetry readings, acting and singing. In 2006 Ralph was awarded the Foxwell Rosebowl for tenor solo, and in May 2007 won seven first places for solo singing also. Ralph won the light opera category at the 105th Mid-Somerset Bath Festival in March 2006 and, in March 2007, he took first place in five of the seven classes at The 73rd Herefordshire Festival of Music Speech and Drama. He won the Boehm Trophy for the highest mark for adult singing.
Ralph is currently a guest soloist for Charlton Kings Choral Society, Cheltenham Choral Society, Churchdown Choral Society and The Silurian Choir.
Ralph's current teachers are Maria
Jagusz and Andrew Hopwood.
(Maria has sung principal roles at Covent Garden,
Glyndebourne, Opera North and Scottish Opera. Many of these have been televised
and have received excellent reviews. She has also sung with Jose Carreras and
Placido Domingo.
Andrew is a graduate of Birmingham Conservatoire, has
twenty years of professional singing experience and was the Teacher of
Ayreshire's Young Musician Of The Year 2004)
Tenor Solo Work Purcell - Man That Is Born Of A Woman, Britten - Rejoice In The Lamb, Haydn - St Theresa Mass, Mozart - Requiem, Vespere Solennes De Confessore, Gounod - St Cecilia Mass, Rossini - Stabat Mater, Rossini - Petite Messe Solonnelle, Beethoven - Mass In C, Jenkins - The Armed Man, Handel - Messiah.
Tenor Voice In Shows for Guys And Dolls, The Wizard Of Oz, Joseph And His Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat.
Tenor Voice In Opera Bizet's Carmen for Cirencester Opera, Le Dancaire in Bizet's Carmen (act 2) for Ardingly Opera, G&S - The Pirates Of Penzance, Hilarion in Princess Ida, Ralph Rackstraw in Pinafore (set on a spaceship!), Iolanthe for The Cotswold Savoyards, and Marco in The Gondoliers for Worcester G&S Society. Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore for Hereford G & S Society.
Ralph has a wide repertoire of songs from opera, light opera, oratorio, English song, lieder, ballads, show songs, and most recently pop songs.
Ralph is also a very keen orchestral conductor, having attended master classes with conductors Mark Robinson and Paul Spicer. He has directed the Young Workers Music Association Symphony Orchestra, The Halesowen Chamber Orchestra and The Belarus White Russian Army Band.
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