Nothing is known about his early life; his birthdate is inferred from the description by an English visitor in 1608 who described him as being "about forty."
An English visitor to Venice, Thomas Coryat, left this description of his singing (Coryats Crudities, London, 1611): In the preface to one of his books of motets, Barbarino wrote that he would sing his works to the accompaniment of the chitarrone, "for my voice is hoarse and frail."
Almost all of Barbarino's music is in the monodic style, using a single virtuoso solo voice part accompanied by basso continuo.
Unusually for the time, he often indicated the instruments which were best to use as accompaniment, including chitarrone, theorbo, and harpsichord.
His last collection of works, a book of madrigals dated to 1617, is for three voices, but also accompanied by basso continuo.