FLEUR BARRON
MEZZO-SOPRANO![Fleur Barron Victoria Cadisch photo 2HM](https://imgartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Fleur-Barron-Victoria-Cadisch-photo-2HM.jpg)
FLEUR BARRON
MEZZO-SOPRANO
ABOUT
Hailed as “a knockout performer” by The Times, Singaporean-British mezzo Fleur Barron recently triumphed at the San Francisco Symphony in the title role of Kaija Saariaho’s opera Adriana Mater in a production helmed by Peter Sellars and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival as Ottavia in Monterverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea. She is a current Rising Star of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and an Artistic Partner of the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Oviedo, for which she will curate/perform multiple projects across several seasons. A passionate interpreter of opera, chamber music, and concert works ranging from the baroque to the contemporary, Fleur is mentored by Barbara Hannigan.
Fleur launches the 23/24 season with a return to the London Symphony Orchestra, where she is the soloist in their Season Opening Concert at the Barbican, performing Claude Vivier’s Wo bist du Licht, and in performances of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella the following week, both under the baton of Barbara Hannigan. Autumn 2023 sees the release on Pentatone Records of her performance in the title role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with La Nuova Musica, and she also begins a multi-season partnership with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and conductor Ludovic Morlot, joining them to record Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Trois Poèmes de Mallarmé, and for performances of Shéhérazade and Montsalvatge’s Cinco Canciones Negras at L’Auditori Barcelona and on tour to Hamburg and Stockholm. Further orchestral engagements include Mahler’s Symphony no.3 with the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov at the Baden Baden Festival, both Das Lied von der Erde and Mahler Symphony no.2 with Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias under Nuno Coehlo, and Freya Waley-Cohen’s Spell Book with the Manchester Collective at the Barbican.
In 23/24 Fleur debuts three opera roles: Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria with baroque ensemble I Gemelli, which tours to major venues including Teatro Real Madrid, Opéra de Bordeaux and Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse; multiple roles in George Benjamin’s two-person opera Into the Little Hill with the Staatskapelle Berlin under Finnegan Downie Dear; and the title role of John the Baptist in Maria Margherita Grimani’s baroque opera La Decollazione di San Giovanni Battista with Haymarket Opera in Chicago. On the recital platform, Fleur joins regular collaborator Julius Drake for concerts in London, Copenhagen, Santa Fe, Padua, Ireland and Oviedo. She debuts at the Wiener Konzerthaus in multiple chamber music concerts for their Gemischter Satz Festival, returns to the 92 Street Y in New York with Myra Huang, and joins Swedish ensemble O/Modernt at Wigmore Hall and Queen Silvia Concert Hall, Stockholm. Fleur is also the curator of OSPA’s East-West Fest in April 2024, featuring symphonic programs, chamber music, late-night concerts and community engagement over two weekends in Oviedo and Gijon.
In the 2022/23 season, Fleur had critical success in the title role of Kaija Saariaho’s opera Adriana Mater in a new production by Peter Sellars with the San Francisco Symphony under Esa-Pekka Salonen, and made a string of exciting orchestral debuts: Debussy La Damoiselle Elue with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Orchestre de Paris, Stravinsky Pulcinella with the Göteborgs Symfoniker and Barbara Hannigan, Berio Folksongs with Sir Mark Elder on tour with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Bruckner Te Deum with Vasily Petrenko and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven Missa Solemnis with Thomas Hengelbrock and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, Beethoven 9th Symphony with Rafael Payare and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Berlioz Les Nuits d’Ete with the Slovenian Philharmonic, Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias. She also sang the title role in Hasse’s Marc Antonio e Cleopatra with the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, alto soloist in a new, staged production of Mozart’s Requiem at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, Bersi in Andrea Chénier and Mallika in Lakme for Opéra de Monte-Carlo and the Théâtre de Champs-Elysées. On the recital platform, Fleur joined Julius Drake for concerts at Het Concertgebouw, MiTO Festival in Milan and Turin, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Spivey Hall, and at the Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris. She teamed up with duo partner Kunal Lahiry for recitals at Wigmore Hall and Oxford Lieder Festival, with Malcolm Martineau at Snape Maltings and with Joseph Middleton at Buxton Festival.
Highlights of recent seasons include Ottavia in L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, la Zelatrice in Suor Angelica with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, Tchaikovsky’s Olga and Paulina, at Garsington Opera and Opera de Toulon, and her debut in the title role of Carmen for Arizona Opera; concerts with the Munich Philharmonic under Barbara Hannigan, the BBCSO, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic, and opera roles with the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, La Monnaie/de Munt, Garsington Opera, Opéra National de Montpellier, Opéra National du Rhin and Cape Town Opera.
Fleur is committed to the way music can facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and healing. She is passionate about curating inclusive chamber music programming that amplifies the voices of diverse communities. Born in Northern Ireland to a Singaporean mother and British father, Fleur grew up in Hong Kong and later New York. She holds degrees from Columbia University (B.A. Comparative Literature) and Manhattan School of Music (M.M. Vocal Performance).
RECENT PRAISE
PABLOSIANA
“The long-awaited song “Urlicht” was all it should be thanks to the well-known mezzo Fleur Barron with her incredible projection, ideal vocal colour for Mahler, perfect diction and the brightness and firmness of her diamond-strong low register; never losing simplicity, pregnant with emotion and in perfect complicity with the accompaniment”
WOCHENBLATT
MARKO CIRKOVIC
“Fleur Barron impressed with strong, appropriately timbred singing and fantastic vocal delivery. Her interpretation was not only technically brilliant but also emotionally moving, making it a perfect complement to the profound music [of Mahler 3rd symphony].”
PARTERRE
CAMERON KELSALL
Smart recitals ask a question that the artist attempts to answer through their choice of repertoire…Barron showed herself unafraid to move the expectations of classical music forward, linguistically, thematically, and culturally. It’s exactly the kind of creative freedom and curatorial insight the art form needs…Barron’s thoughtful and inventive artistry makes her one to watch, and I’d be happy to follow her wherever she travels.
GRAMOPHONE
RICHARD WIGMORE
Exploiting the chiaroscuro within her warm, supple mezzo, Fleur Barron sings Pirro’s vocally wide-ranging solos [in Hasse’s Caio Fabbricio] with authority – tenderness, too […] a performances of skill, spirit and, where apt, virtuoso panache.
OPERA ACTUAL
Albert Garriga
Fleur Barron demonstrated an impressive theatricality and musicality, along with absolute technical control, channelled with great intensity into ‘Disprezzata Regina’ and the lament ‘Addio’.
FORUM OPERA
As for Fleur Barron, as soon as she opens her mouth, she seizes the listener with the depth of her timbre, the flexibility of her voice, and her musicality does the rest. Later, in the Pastorale, she is as sighing and mischievous a suitor as one could desire.
NEWS
Mezzo-Soprano Fleur Barron Curates OSPAFEST: EAST/WEST With Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias
The Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado del Asturias recreates the influences of East and West in its second OSPAFest, one of the projects initiated by Chief Conductor Nuno Coelho, with the programme curated by IMG Artists mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, with four concerts “that carry a message of union and connection between cultures.”
Congratulations to our 2024 ICMA Nominees!
IMG Artists would like to congratulate our 2024 International Classical Music Awards Nominees! The finalists will be announced by 11 December. The winners of the prestigious ICMA Awards will be revealed on 18 January 2024. The Award Ceremony and Gala concert will take place at the Palau de la Musica
Fleur Barron and Axelle Fanyo Debut with San Francisco Symphony in Saariaho’s ‘Adriana Mater’
The week following the announcement of the passing of iconic Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, the San Francisco Symphony presents staged performances of her 2005 opera Adriana Mater, conducted by their Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, and directed by Peter Sellars, with rising IMG Artists stars Fleur Barron and Axelle Fanyo in the roles of sisters Adriana and
Roberto González-Monjas & Fleur Barron Make Their Opera National de Bordeaux Debut in Mozart’s “Requiem”
Throughout January, Roberto González-Monjas makes his opera debut with Opera National de Bordeaux directing Mozart’s Requiem. Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron will also make her debut with the orchestra, her first performance in Bordeaux. The 7-date performance commencing on the 20 January will be a 100% “zero purchase” production, the first in a national opera house, specially designed