After completing his studies in Ottawa and Montreal, he moved to Berlin to study with Rainer Seegers of the Berlin Philharmonic. It was during this period that he cultivated his sound and refined his approach to playing timpani in the German style. After studies with Marek Stefula in Leipzig, he began playing regularly with some of Europes best known orchestras, including La Scala Milan, the Bavarian State Opera, the Bavarian Radio Symphony and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

He has played with such conductors as Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Bernard Haitink, Andris Nelsons, Riccardo Chailly, Manfred Honeck, Semyon Bychkov, to mention only a few.

He teaches timpani at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, and previously taught at the Guido Cantelli Conservatory in Novara, Italy. He gives masterclasses throughout Europe and performs regularly as a chamber musician.

Brian Barker is a proud endorser of SCHLAGKRAFT mallets and sticks.