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Tony Barr
Composer Biography
Tony Barr graduated in Theology and Liturgy from Durham, England, in 1970, having already connected with many of the leading liturgists and musicians in England, Holland and France. In the years immediately following Vatican 2, he had become an active member of the fledgling Church Music Association, later absorbed into the Society of St Gregory. While serving as music director of the central London University campus ministry, he was appointed in 1974 as music director for the St Thomas More Center for Pastoral Liturgy parish church in north London, before moving to the parish of St. Helen and St. James the Less in Colchester, Essex in 1980. There he served on the Brentwood Diocesan Liturgy Commission, until leaving for the United States in 1985. By then he had already become a published composer, hymnal editor, and multi-media resources publisher/producer. Some of his pieces were selected for the Papal visit to the UK in the early 1980s. From 1974 to 1984, he participated in the annual Universa Laus gatherings across continental Europe, a forum of academics, composers and liturgists. During those years he worked with an Anglican Missionary Society, USPG, in developmental studies. His role was to combine the insights of the overseas missionary churches with the emerging liturgical perspectives in the UK. This work was highly ecumenical in nature, taking him to campus ministries and parishes throughout the UK across every denominational board. In these years he developed an interest in the music, culture and spirituality of the Native American Indian, a passion which continues to consume him. He holds an M.Div. (Masters of Divinity) degree, with specialization in liturgical studies. He presented his doctoral proposal at a 1984 Universa Laus Convention on Popularity and Functionality: the artform of the assembly in worship', but circumstances resulting in his emigrating to the United States
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