Eric Barry
From leading roles with Pittsburgh Opera and Opera Colorado to appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra, Spanish-American tenor Eric Barry has built an international career on the opera and concert stages. Praised by Opera News for his “clear timbre, evenness of projection and exceptional sensitivity,” he has also appeared with Pacific Symphony, the Utah Symphony, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. His live recordings of operatic rarities have earned international award nominations, bringing these performances to audiences worldwide.
Barry’s leading roles include Rodolfo in La bohème with Pittsburgh Opera, North Carolina Opera, and Opera Memphis; Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Alfredo in La traviata with Opera Colorado; and Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore with Boston Midsummer Opera. He has portrayed Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress with Wolf Trap Opera, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Florentine Opera, and Macduff in Macbeth opposite Greer Grimsley with Opera San Antonio. His repertoire extends to Canio in Pagliacci and Cavaradossi in Tosca, both performed with Amarillo Opera, and the title roles in Rossini’s Otello and Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito with Opera in the Heights.
His discography includes two recordings nominated for International Classical Music Awards in Opera: Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, in which he sings the Prologue and Peter Quint, and the album pairing Holst’s At the Boar’s Head, featuring him as Prince Hal, with Vaughan Williams’s Riders to the Sea. The Britten recording also earned a Fryderyk nomination, while the Holst/Vaughan Williams album received Crescendo magazine’s Joker distinction, an editorial honor recognizing exceptional recordings. His longstanding collaboration with conductor Łukasz Borowicz and the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw has also yielded recordings of Donizetti’s Maria Padilla, Montemezzi’s L’amore dei tre re, Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, and Bizet’s Djamileh.
On the concert stage, Barry has performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Utah Symphony, and Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D at Carnegie Hall. International appearances include engagements with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Jacksonville Symphony, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Omaha Symphony. His concert repertoire encompasses Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor and Requiem, and Handel’s Messiah. Television appearances include Eric Barry: Home for Christmas and PBS presentations of Amarillo Opera productions, including Pagliacci.
A native of Sundown, Texas, Barry discovered his singing voice at West Texas A&M University and went on to earn a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music. Together with his wife, Ana, he established the Eric Barry Vocal Competition at West Texas A&M University, providing scholarship and performance opportunities for emerging singers.