Barry Tuckwell

Barry Emmanuel Tuckwell AC, OBE (born 5 March 1931) is an Australian horn player who has spent most of his professional life in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Barry Tuckwell was born on 5 March 1931 in Melbourne, son of Charles Tuckwell and his wife, Elizabeth (5 March is known by many as the Horn Duumvirate Date, as it was the birth date of both Tuckwell and Philip Farkas, perhaps the two most notable horn players ever). He has an older sister, Patricia, a violinist and fashion model widely known as Bambi. She married the photographer Athol Shmith and later George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

After studying the piano, organ and violin as a chorister at St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, Tuckwell was introduced to the horn at age 13 and was playing professionally within six months. He studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under Alan Mann, one of Australia's most influential brass players. Tuckwell has said, "The horn chose me. Right from the beginning, it was something I knew I could do."

Tuckwell relates an anecdote regarding his choice of instrument: sitting in a cafe one day with his sister Patricia, Charles Mackerras and a horn player from the local symphony, Patricia speculated on what Tuckwell's future in music might be. The horn player suggested, "Why not try the horn?" Tuckwell did so and within two years was playing in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. With characteristic humour, when recounting this at the British Horn Society's festival in 2005, he turned to the audience and said, "One note a time, piece of cake!" The horn is often reckoned to be one of the most difficult orchestral instruments to master.

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