Cheryl Barker
Encyclopedia
Cheryl Barker is an Australian opera
tic soprano
who has had an active international career since the late 1980s. She has sung on several complete opera recordings with Chandos Records
, including Dvořák's Rusalka
(Rusalka), Janáček's The Makropulos Case (Emilia Marty), Janáček's Káťa Kabanová
(Káťa Kabanová), and Puccini's Madama Butterfly
(Cio-Cio San). She has also made two solo recordings of opera arias, one with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
under conductor David Parry
and the other with Orchestra Victoria
and conductor Richard Bonynge
. On the stage she has had partnerships with the English National Opera
and Opera Australia
.
at the Victorian College of the Arts
and began her career as a member of the opera chorus at the Victoria State Opera
at the age of 19. She made her first solo appearance at that house as Blondchen in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail
at the age of 23.
In 1984 Barker moved with her husband, baritone
Peter Coleman-Wright, to London, so that he could assume his new position as a member of the choir at the Glyndebourne Festival
. Two weeks after their arrival, Barker auditioned for and was accepted as a member of the opera chorus at the Welsh National Opera
. She stayed there for the next year and a half, occasionally substituting for ailing singers in larger parts and performing the occasional comprimario
role in addition to singing in the chorus.
In 1986 Barker was awarded the Dame Mabel Brookes Fellowship and was a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
. These accolades helped her to launch a solo career with minor opera companies during the late 1980s. She performed the roles of Marzelline in Fidelio
and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro
with the English Touring Opera
. In 1989 she won the Royal Overseas League Competition in London. Her first major critical success came in 1990 at her debut at the Sydney Opera House
as Mimì in Puccini's La bohème
, directed by Baz Luhrmann
.
Since the early 1990s Barker has been a regular performer with all of the major opera companies in Australia. With the State Opera of South Australia
she has sung Blondchen and Mimì. At the Victoria State Opera she has appeared as Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, the First Lady in The Magic Flute
, and Mimì. She has also portrayed Tatyana in Eugene Onegin
at the Lyric Opera of Queensland
and Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly with Auckland Opera
. With Opera Australia
she has performed Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Cio-Cio San, Desdemona in Otello
, Emilia Marty in The Makropulos Affair, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi
, Marzelline in Fidelio, Nedda in Pagliacci
, and the title roles in Arabella
, Manon Lescaut
, and Suor Angelica
. She is portrayed the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier
with Opera Australia during the 2009/2010 season. In 2011, Barker sang the title role in Opera Queensland's production of Tosca
, a role she had portrayed before in London and Sydney.
Barker's appearances with the English National Opera include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni
, the Foreign Princess in Rusalka, The Governess and Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw
, Oksana in Christmas Eve
, Musetta, Tosca, and the title role in Richard Strauss
's Salome
.
As a guest artist Barker has appeared at De Nederlandse Opera
(Cio-Cio San, Emilia Marty), the Royal Opera, London
(Jenifer in The Midsummer Marriage
), the Scottish Opera
(Adina in L'elisir d'amore
, Annius in La clemenza di Tito
, and Tatyana), the Vlaamse Opera
(Suor Angelica, Liù in Turandot
), and the Welsh National Opera (Káťa Kabanová). In 2004 she portrayed Sarah Miles in the world premiere of Jake Heggie
's The End of the Affair
at the Houston Grand Opera
. In 2009 she sang Cio-Cio San for her first appearance with the Paris Opera
.
Barker has one son, Gabriel, with her husband Peter Coleman-Wright. The couple has also recorded a CD of opera duets together with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
under conductor Martin André. The family maintains homes in both London and Australia.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
who has had an active international career since the late 1980s. She has sung on several complete opera recordings with Chandos Records
Chandos Records
Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...
, including Dvořák's Rusalka
Rusalka (opera)
Rusalka is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil based on the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová. Rusalka is one of the most successful Czech operas, and represents a cornerstone of the repertoire of Czech opera houses...
(Rusalka), Janáček's The Makropulos Case (Emilia Marty), Janáček's Káťa Kabanová
Káta Kabanová
Káťa Kabanová is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by Vincenc Červinka, based on The Storm, a play by Alexander Ostrovsky. The opera was also largely inspired by Janáček's love for Kamila Stösslová...
(Káťa Kabanová), and Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
(Cio-Cio San). She has also made two solo recordings of opera arias, one with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
under conductor David Parry
David Parry (conductor)
David Parry is an English conductor who is particularly known for his work within the field of opera. Described as "a man of the theatre with whom directors love to work; he is good with singers; he knows the British opera world like the back of his hand...
and the other with Orchestra Victoria
Orchestra Victoria
Orchestra Victoria is an orchestra based in Victoria, Australia. In addition to its own concert and education events, it is the performance partner of the following major performing arts companies: The Australian Ballet, Opera Australia and Victorian Opera...
and conductor Richard Bonynge
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
. On the stage she has had partnerships with the English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
and Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
.
Career
Barker studied with Dame Joan HammondJoan Hammond
Dame Joan Hilda Hood Hammond, DBE, CMG was an Australian operatic soprano, singing coach and champion golfer.- Early life :...
at the Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
and began her career as a member of the opera chorus at the Victoria State Opera
Victoria State Opera
The Victoria State Opera, based in Melbourne, Australia, where it was founded in 1962 as the Victorian Opera Company, collapsed in 1996 due to financial difficulties. At this point, the former Australian Opera merged with this company and renamed itself Opera Australia, taking on the...
at the age of 19. She made her first solo appearance at that house as Blondchen in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
at the age of 23.
In 1984 Barker moved with her husband, baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Peter Coleman-Wright, to London, so that he could assume his new position as a member of the choir at the Glyndebourne Festival
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
. Two weeks after their arrival, Barker auditioned for and was accepted as a member of the opera chorus at the Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
. She stayed there for the next year and a half, occasionally substituting for ailing singers in larger parts and performing the occasional comprimario
Comprimario
A Comprimario is a supporting role in an opera. Derived from the Italian "con primario", or "with the primary", the term refers to a performer who sings small role pieces....
role in addition to singing in the chorus.
In 1986 Barker was awarded the Dame Mabel Brookes Fellowship and was a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is an annual singing competition sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera. Established in 1954, its purpose is to discover, assist, promote, and develop young opera singers. The competition is held in four stages: Districts, Regional, Semi-Final, and...
. These accolades helped her to launch a solo career with minor opera companies during the late 1980s. She performed the roles of Marzelline in Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
with the English Touring Opera
English Touring Opera
English Touring Opera is an opera company in the United Kingdom. From 1979 to 1992 it was known as Opera 80.- About the company :Opera 80 was founded in 1979 by the Arts Council of Great Britain as the successor to Opera For All; in 1992 the company changed its name to English Touring Opera...
. In 1989 she won the Royal Overseas League Competition in London. Her first major critical success came in 1990 at her debut at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
as Mimì in Puccini's La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, directed by Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
.
Since the early 1990s Barker has been a regular performer with all of the major opera companies in Australia. With the State Opera of South Australia
State Opera of South Australia
State Opera of South Australia is a professional opera company in Adelaide, South Australia, established in 1976. Each year, the State Opera presents at least three major operatic productions at the Adelaide Festival Theatre as well as producing or supporting other smaller productions in The Opera...
she has sung Blondchen and Mimì. At the Victoria State Opera she has appeared as Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, the First Lady in The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, and Mimì. She has also portrayed Tatyana in Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
at the Lyric Opera of Queensland
Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981, then under the name Lyric Opera of Queensland, after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in December 1980.It is after Opera Australia the second...
and Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly with Auckland Opera
The NBR New Zealand Opera
The NBR New Zealand Opera is New Zealand's largest professional opera company. The company was formed in 2000 when the Wellington City Opera and Auckland Opera companies decided to merge into one organization for financial reasons. The company produces two fully staged operas each year during an...
. With Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
she has performed Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Cio-Cio San, Desdemona in Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
, Emilia Marty in The Makropulos Affair, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...
, Marzelline in Fidelio, Nedda in Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
, and the title roles in Arabella
Arabella
Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
, Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut (Puccini)
Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost....
, and Suor Angelica
Suor Angelica
Suor Angelica is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
. She is portrayed the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
with Opera Australia during the 2009/2010 season. In 2011, Barker sang the title role in Opera Queensland's production of Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, a role she had portrayed before in London and Sydney.
Barker's appearances with the English National Opera include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, the Foreign Princess in Rusalka, The Governess and Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw (opera)
The Turn of the Screw is a 20th century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, "wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas". The libretto is based on the novella...
, Oksana in Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve (opera)
Christmas Eve , is an opera in four acts with music and libretto by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Composed between 1894 and 1895, Rimsky-Korsakov based his opera on a short story, "Christmas Eve", from Nikolay Gogol's Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka...
, Musetta, Tosca, and the title role in Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
.
As a guest artist Barker has appeared at De Nederlandse Opera
De Nederlandse Opera
De Nederlandse Opera , in Amsterdam, is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Het Muziektheater, a modern building designed by Cees Dam which opened in 1986....
(Cio-Cio San, Emilia Marty), the Royal Opera, London
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
(Jenifer in The Midsummer Marriage
The Midsummer Marriage
The Midsummer Marriage is an opera in three acts, with music and libretto by Michael Tippett. The work's first performance was at Covent Garden, 27 January 1955, conducted by John Pritchard...
), the Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies funded by the Scottish Government...
(Adina in L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
, Annius in La clemenza di Tito
La clemenza di Tito
La clemenza di Tito , K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Metastasio...
, and Tatyana), the Vlaamse Opera
Vlaamse Opera
The Vlaamse Opera ' is an opera company in Belgium directed by Aviel Cahn which operates in two different opera houses in two Flemish cities, the Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen at Van Ertbornstraat 8 and the Vlaamse Opera Ghent at Schouwburgstraat 3...
(Suor Angelica, Liù in Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
), and the Welsh National Opera (Káťa Kabanová). In 2004 she portrayed Sarah Miles in the world premiere of Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie is an American composer and pianist.Jake Heggie is the composer of the operas Dead Man Walking , The End of the Affair , At The Statue of Venus , To Hell and Back , and Moby-Dick , as well as the stage work For a Look or a Touch...
's The End of the Affair
The End of the Affair (opera)
The End of the Affair is a chamber opera with music by Jake Heggie and a libretto by Heggie and Leonard Foglia.Based on the Graham Greene novel of the same title, it is set in London in 1944 and 1946 and focuses on Maurice and Sarah, who vows to end their illicit affair if his life is spared in a...
at the Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
. In 2009 she sang Cio-Cio San for her first appearance with the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
.
Barker has one son, Gabriel, with her husband Peter Coleman-Wright. The couple has also recorded a CD of opera duets together with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the smallest of the six orchestras established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation .-Activities:...
under conductor Martin André. The family maintains homes in both London and Australia.
External links
- Profile at Opera AustraliaOpera AustraliaOpera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...