Documents

Short Biography

Full Biography

American mezzo-soprano Barbara Rearick has been lauded by Opera Newsfor her “tonal beauty” and Gramophone for her “charm and finesse.” Since her Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah, she has performed internationally with such orchestras as the Houston, Indianapolis, Buffalo and Baltimore symphonies, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Her 2017-18 season currently includes soloist in Messiah with the United States Naval Academy and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Symphony Orchestra Augusta.

Recent successes include Handel’s Messiah with the Wichita Symphony; de Falla’s El amor brujo and Copland’s Old American Songs with the Southwest Florida Symphony; performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in their MusicNow series; Verdi’s Requiem with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and Huntsville Symphony; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Bozeman, Colorado, Syracuse, and Wichita symphonies; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Canterbury Choral Society; Mozart’s Coronation Mass at the Spoleto Festival USA; Messiah with the symphonies of Baltimore, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, Orange County and Syracuse; Mozart’s Requiem with Symphoria (Syracuse, NY); Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the South Dakota Symphony; Bach’s Magnificatand St. Matthew Passion with Voices of Ascension; Bach’s St. John Passionwith the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica; and Mahler’s Rückert Lieder at Princeton University. She has performed in Bach’s St. John Passion, under Kent Tritle in Musica Sacra at Lincoln Center, and at London’s Wigmore Hall, singing three songs written for her by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, with the composer accompanying her at the piano.

An accomplished performer and champion of 20th-century music, Ms. Rearick sang the United States premiere of Nicholas Maw’s Nocturne with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra at Bard College; collaborated with New York’s New Music Ensemble for the world premiere of Mary Wright’s Sunflower; and performed A Winter’s Journey, Douglas Cuomo’s setting of Wilhelm Müller’s text (from Schubert’s Winterreise). She sang in the world premiere of Douglas Cuomo’s opera, Arjuna’s Dilemma, at BAM’s Next Wave Fextival, She sang and recorded the roles of Miriam, Ruth, and the Witch of Endor in the world premiere of Kurt Weill’s The Eternal Road, with Rundfunk Sinfhonieorchester Berlin, under Gerard Schwarz. Frequent collaborations with the New York Chamber Ensemble include Ravel’s Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, Ravel’s Chansons madécasses, and Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été.

Barbara Rearick has appeared on BBC World Service Radio, New York City’s WQXR, and National Public Radio and has recorded for Naxos, Gateway Classics, and ASV. Born in Pennsylvania, she serves on the voice faculty at Princeton University and is a founding member of the Britten-Pears Ensemble, a chamber group specializing in rarely heard contemporary works.