The tenor René Barbera has swiftly established himself as one of the most exciting singers of our time. Following his graduation from the opera studio of the Lyric Opera of Chicago he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2016, and since then appears regularly at the most prestigious opera houses in the USA, and at international opera houses such as La Scala, Milan, the Paris Opéra, the Bavarian and Vienna State Operas, the Zurich Opera House and the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.
In the 2023/24 season René Barbera returns to Paris as Ernesto (Don Pasquale) and as Alfredo (La traviata), and sings Percy (Anna Bolena) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Ferrando (Così fan tutte) at the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy and the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto) at the Dutch National Opera. Highlights of his performances in 2022/23 included the Duke of Mantua at the Dallas Opera, Fenton (Falstaff) at the Teatro La Fenice, Elvino (La sonnambula) at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Ernesto at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the Italian Singer (Der Rosenkavalier) at the Met. He also performed in Verdi’s Requiem in Tokyo with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi.
His repertory also includes Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola), Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles), Lindoro (L’italiana in Algeri), Iopas (Les Troyens), Arturo (I puritani) and Tonio (La Fille du régiment).
Festival appearances have taken him to the Castell de Peralada Festival and the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.
On the concert stage René Barbera has appeared at venues including the Philharmonie de Paris, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Moscow Conservatory and the Vienna Konzerthaus, working with conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Fabio Luisi, Gustavo Gimeno and Myung-Whun Chung, and with MusicAeterna under Teodor Currentzis.
René Barbera is the winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition 2008 and in 2011 won first prize in all three categories in Operalia.
