About
Hailed by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times as “vocally robust” and “lyrically malevolent”, American Bass-Baritone Joseph Barron was a winner of the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the 2013 Sullivan Foundation Awards. Recently, Mr. Barron debuted as Kaspar in Der Freischütz at the Virginia Opera. His 2016-2017 season also includes a return to the Metropolitan Opera for productions of Salome and Rigoletto, a debut with Bard Summerscape as Basmanov in Dvorak’s Dimitrij, Don Pizarro in Fidelio with the Princeton Music Festival, Leporello with New Orleans Opera, and the First Soldier in Salome with Pittsburgh Opera. His 2015-2016 season included productions of Tannhäuser and Rigoletto with the Metropolitan Opera, his debut with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the Bass Solo in Handel’s Messiah, a debut with the Eugene Symphony, his return to Arizona Opera as Leporello in Don Giovanni, and his debut with the Princeton Festival as Swallow in Peter Grimes. The 2014-2015 season saw his debut with Arizona Opera as Monterone in Rigoletto, his return to the Metropolitan Opera as a Flemish Deputy in Don Carlo, and his debut with Spoleto USA as Roldano in Cavalli’s Veremonda.
During 2013-2014 season, Mr. Barron debuted with The Metropolitan Opera in Shostakovich’s The Nose, returned to Opera Philadelphia as Leporello in Don Giovanni and Pittsburgh Opera as the Speaker in The Magic Flute and the Prophet/Larry King in Dark Sisters, and sang the Bonze in Madama Butterfly with the Castleton Festival. The 2012-13 season saw his debut with the San Francisco Opera in Mark Adamo’s world premiere of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and appeared as Monterone in Rigoletto, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Geronimo in Il matrimonio segreto, The Bonze in Madama Butterfly, and Alidoro in La Cenerentola with the Pittsburgh Opera. Other recent appearances include Ramfis in Aida at Glimmerglass Festival, Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea with the Aix-en-Provence Festival and La Fenice, Montano in Otello with Opera Company of Philadelphia, and Grandpa Moss in The Tender Land and Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro with Glimmerglass Opera.
Other roles Mr. Barron has performed recently include Count Rodolfo in La sonnambula, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra, Wilhelm Reischmann in Elegy for Young Lovers, Friedrich Bhaer in Little Women, Erste Handwerksbursche in Wozzeck, Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Gaudenzio in Il signor Bruschino, and Don Prudenzio in Il viaggio a Reims.
Mr. Barron has also garnered top prizes from the Opera Index Vocal Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition, Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, and the Irma M. Cooper Opera Columbus Vocal Competition. He received his Master of Music at the Curtis Institute of Music and his Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.