On his return to the UK, he continued his singing studies with Bryan Drake and Laura Sarti in London and later with Rita Patanè and Dante Mazzola in Milan.
[3] His career began in 1991 with the English opera company Opera East Productions (OEP), singing in the Male Chorus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and later in leading roles such as Rodolfo in La Bohème, Radamés in Aida, Don José in Carmen, Osaka in Iris by Mascagni, as well as the title roles in Peter Grimes by Britten and Faust by Gounod.
[3] At Scottish Opera he sang Manrico in Verdi's Il trovatore, Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Boris in Janáček's Káťa Kabanová and Florestan in Beethoven's Fidelio.
This audition proved positive, Barenboim commenting to Storey that while a singer normally needs a year to learn the role, he only had five months before rehearsals began.
In 2008 Ian Storey was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by Loughborough University "in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to opera".