Fleur Barron - Artist Bio

FLEUR BARRON, MEZZO-SOPRANO Hailed as a “charismatic star” by the Boston Globe and as “a knockout performer” by The Times, British-Singaporean mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron is a 2018 HSBC Laureate of the Aix-en-Provence Festival and the recipient of the 2016 Grace B. Jackson Prize from the Tanglewood Music Festival, awarded to one outstanding young singer each year. She is mentored by Barbara Hannigan.

The 2019-2020 season features significant role and house debuts, including Ottavia in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Festival dAix-en-Provence, La Zelatrice in staged performances of Suor Angelica with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder, the title role in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice with Cape Town Opera, and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at Opéra National de Montpellier. Fleur’s vibrant concert season includes debuts with the Munich Philharmonic in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella under Barbara Hannigan, Berlioz arias with the Malaysian Philharmonic under Kees Bakels, Chausson’s Poèmes de l’Amour et de la Mer with the Orchestre Symphonique de Toulon, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She also continues her recital partnerships with pianists Julius Drake and Roger Vignoles at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Aldeburgh Festival, and other festivals in the U.K. In the 2018-2019 season, Fleur was an artist-in-residence at the Ojai Festival under the leadership of Barbara Hannigan, performing Stravinsky, Walton, Cage and a program of folk songs with chamber orchestra, which she also curated. Fleur debuted at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie as Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress, a role she reprised in a concert version at the Aldeburgh Festival to critical acclaim. Last season Fleur also sang Olga in Yevgeny Onegin with Opéra de Toulon; Balkis in Offenbach’s Barkouf with Opéra National du Rhin; Maddalena in Rigoletto with Northern Ireland Opera; First Witch in Dido and Aeneas with Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; and Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust at the St. Endellion Festival (U.K.). On the concert platform, Fleur toured with Orchestre Régional de Normandie as alto soloist in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and presented recitals with Julius Drake and Roger Vignoles in Spain and the U.K. In recent seasons, Fleur received critical acclaim for simultaneously singing and dancing Anna I and Anna II in Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Other recent engagements include Fenena in Nabucco with Opéra National de Montpellier, for which she was hailed as the “revelation of the evening” by Olyrix; the title role in Carmen at the Aspen Music Festival; the title role (cover) in the Purcell pastiche Miranda at Opéra Comique; alto soloist in Bernstein’s Songfest with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Barbican Hall; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Flint Symphony Orchestra; and Vaughan William’s Serenade to Music with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Fleur holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University.