Рене Барбера
About
René Barbera is a second-year member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In the current season, he will be heard in Carmen, Un ballo in Maschera, Fanciulla del West, and Lohengrin. In the summer of 2010, Mr. Barbera was heard as Don Ramiro in the Ryan Opera Center’s production of La cenerentola. In the summer of 2011, he will make his debut with Opera Theatre of St. Louis as Tonio in La fille du régiment and will be heard as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicci at the Castleton Festival. Concert engagements this year included Handel’s Messiah with the Apollo Chorus of Chicago, Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Chicago Philharmonic. Future engagements will take Mr. Barbera to Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera Company, The Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, and Vancouver Opera.
Mr. Barbera is a 2008 winner of the Metropolitan National Council Auditions. In the summer of the same year, he was a member of the Merola Opera Program, where he performed in the Schwabacher concert series and the Grand Finale Concert. In 2007 he won the Grand Prize of the Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition, which led to his performance with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. In 2006 he won first place in the Heafner/Williams Vocal Competition and First Place in the Charlotte Opera Guild Vocal Competition. In July 2011, he wins first prize at the Operalia Competition. Mr. Barbera studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts from 2004 – 2008 and further studies include the the American Institute of Vocal Arts in Graz, Austria, and the Vocal Arts Symposium of Colorado Springs.