Barbara Bonney, born in 1956, is widely recognised as a superlative recital and concert artist and as one of the great Mozart singers of her generation. The american soprano has made over 90 recordings with the most important conductors and orchestras in the world today.
Barbara Bonney, who studied in prestigious musical schools and universities, appears at the major opera houses all over the world since 1979. Among her „signature” roles are Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Pamina in Die Zauberflõte and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. She has performed regularly under Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, André Previn, Trevor Pinnock, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and John Eliot Gardiner. A regular presenter for the BBC, she acts as „expert opinion” during the Cardiff Singer Competition.
She also appears in documentaries and gives televised „Masterclasses for Amateurs” for the BBC. Among her important debuts are her first Sophie with Carlos Kleiber at the 1984 Munich Summer Festival and her Covent Garden debut later that year in the same role, with Sir Georg Solti conducting; followed by her debut at La Scala as Pamina with Wolfgang Sawallisch, her Vienna Philharmonic debut in the Brahms Requiem under Carlo Maria Giulini, and her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1987, as Nyade in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, conducted by James Levine. Barbara Bonney received an honorary Doctorate degree, from her Alma Mater, the University of New Hampshire, an honorary Doctorate from Bowdoin College in Maine, and an honorary Doctorate from the Royal Academy of Music in London. She is also a member of the prestigious Swedish Academy of Music and a Visiting Professor at London’s Royal Academy of Music.
