Barbara LeMay, an audience charmer par excellence with a fresh, youthful aura, is one of opera’s most promising young mezzo-sopranos.

In the 2010/11 season, Barbara LeMay performs Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at St. Petersburg Opera in Florida and Aurelia in Oscar Straus’ The Chocolate Soldier with Liederkranz Opera Theatre. In 2010 she also recorded a new album containing American composer Sarah Mattox’s enchanting song cycle In the Garden. The album also features Ms. LeMay singing garden-themed art songs by Brahms, Strauss, Schumann, Wolf, Respighi, Chaminade, and Fauré.

In recent seasons she sang Gertrude in Hänsel und Gretel with Paul Mesner Puppets and the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra. Other important performances include creating the role of the Nurse with Glimmerglass Opera in Strawberry Fields by Michael Torke, a one act opera from the triptych Central Park, broadcast on PBS and receiving an Emmy Award nomination. In Italy, Ms. LeMay sang Camilla in Donizetti’s Il Giovedì Grasso with Opera Theatre of Lucca.

Barbara LeMay’s principal roles include Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Charlotte in Werther, Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Siebel in Faust, Zita in Gianni Schicchi and Dame Quickly in Falstaff. She has performed with New York City Opera, Pine Mountain Music Festival, Yale Opera Theater, Glimmerglass Opera, Amarillo Opera, Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, Elgin OPERA, Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Company of Brooklyn.

Barbara LeMay’s concert repertoire includes Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Beatus Vir, Händel’s Messiah, Pergolesi’s Salve Regina and the Requiems of Stravinsky and Duruflé. In 2008 Ms. LeMay sang in Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. LeMay is a graduate of Yale University’s Master of Music and Artists Diploma and Glimmerglass Young Artist programs. She is a recipient of an award from the Connecticut District Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, and has also received recognition from the Annamaria Saritelli-DiPanni Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship and Mu Phi Epsilon organizations.

“Smanie implacabili” from Mozart’s Così fan tutte (2010)

“L’Air des lettres” from Massenet’s Werther (2010)

Barber Erika - Vanessa Berlioz Marguerite - La Damnation de Faust Béatrice - Béatrice et Bénédict Bernstein Dinah - Trouble in Tahiti Bizet Mercedes - Carmen Britten Lucretia - The Rape of Lucretia Nancy - Albert Herring Donizetti Alisa - Lucia di Lammermoor Giovanna Seymour - Anna Bolena Gluck Orfeo - Orfeo ed Euridice Gounod Siebel - Faust Stephano - Roméo et Juliette Heggie Sister Helen Prejean - Dead Man Walking Humperdinck Hänsel, Gertrude - Hänsel und Gretel Mascagni Lola - Cavalleria Rusticana Beppe - L’Amico Fritz

Massenet Charlotte - Werther Menotti Mother - Amahl and the Night Visitors Secretary - The Consul Mozart Dorabella - Così fan tutte Cherubino - Le Nozze di Figaro Zweite Dame - Die Zauberflöte Annio - La Clemenza di Tito Idamante - Idomeneo Nicolai Frau Reich - Die lustigen Weiber Offenbach Nicklausse, Giulietta - Les Contes d’Hoffmann Puccini Suzuki - Madama Butterfly J.Strauss Prinz Orlofsky - Die Fledermaus R.Strauss Dryade - Ariadne auf Naxos Annina - Der Rosenkavalier Tchaikovsky Olga - Eugene Onegin Verdi Preziosilla - La Forza del Destino Meg Page - Falstaff

Beethoven - 9th Symphony, Mass in C Duruflé - Requiem Händel - Messiah Mendelssohn - Elijah

Pergolesi - Salve Regina Stravinsky - Requiem Vivaldi - Gloria, Beatus Vir

* This list represents recommended roles in the artist's operatic repertoire. For a list of performed repertoire, please refer to the artist's resume and biography listed in the downloadable materials on our Artist Roster Page.