Sir John Barbirolli, CH (2 December 1899 – 29 July 1970), née Giovanni Battista Barbirolli, conductor and cellist, was born Giovanni Battista at 12 Southampton Row, London, on 2 December 1899, the elder son and second of the three children of an émigré Italian violinist, Lorenzo Barbirolli (1864–1928), and his Parisian wife, Louise Marie Ribeyrol (1870–1962).
In 1929 Barbirolli was appointed conductor of the Covent Garden touring company and also conducted regularly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the grand opera season. in April 1943 Barbirolli was invited to become permanent conductor of the Hallé Orchestra at a time of crisis in its history, he accepted without hesitation.
Sir John has connections with Streatham.
In the Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier...."On boxing day Kathleen was with the Barborelli family at his mother's home in Streatham... and again on New Year's eve, by this time the full knowledge that from the following day she would be known as Kathleen Ferrier CBE"
Sir John briefly lived with his mother 33 Wavertree Road and then a separate address in Streatham with his wife
(Source Michael Kennedy)
Picure by Walter Stoneman bromide print, 1952
NPG x163877 © National Portrait Gallery. Creative Commons License
