Barbara Manning – Accompanist
Barbara Manning studied with Phyllis Sellick at the Royal College of Music, winning the Leonard Borwick Prize and gaining ARCM and LRAM performer's and teacher's diplomas for piano and violin. She has given numerous recitals in London and the Home Counties and she has performed many popular concertos with the Maltings Sinfonia of Ware, Dulwich Symphony Orchestra and Pro Arte.
Barbara became WGCMS's accompanist in 2011, and has accompanied Ware Choral and Operatic Societies since 1974 and 1987, respectively. In November 2016, Barbara was delighted to receive from the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, the personal award of Vicki Avery for Service to Amateur Theatre.
Barbara enjoyed performing Beethoven's Choral Fantasia and Constant Lambert's Rio Grande with WGCMS in April 2006. Her numerous appearances with opera companies and choirs in the South East have included performances at the Royal Albert Hall, St John's, Smith Square, St Martin's in the Fields, St Paul's Covent Garden and on Channel 4. She accompanies exam candidates and music courses, acts as church organist and plays for Scottish dancing at home and abroad. Her CD of light music in collaboration with the composer John McLain and the tenor Gordon Pullin was most favourably reviewed.