About René

Tenor René Barbera has quickly established himself as one of today’s most exciting vocal artists. The first-ever recipient of all three top awards of the Operalia Competition in 2011 and winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2008, René has earned critical praise and audience acclaim for his effortless singing, his “old-fashioned warmth” (Opera News), and his expressive musicality.

In the 2025/26 season, René debuts the role of Rodolfo La bohème at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Teatro di San Carlo and makes another role debut as Gennaro Lucrezia Borgia at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He returns to Hamburg Staatsoper for Nemorino L’elisir d’amore, Teatro di San Carlo for Edgardo Lucia di Lammermoor, Opéra de Paris for Alfredo La Traviata and Bayerische Staatsoper Ramiro La Cenerentola. On the concert scene, René sings Verdi’s Requiem with Myung-whun Chung and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Jader Bignamini and the Detroit Symphony, and an open air solo gala concert in Prostějov, Czech Republic.

Last season, René made a major role debut with Arnold Guillaume Tell at New National Theatre Tokyo. He began the season with a return to Dutch National Opera in the role of Duca di Mantua Rigoletto and made a debut at Teatro Regio Torino as Nemorino L’elisir d’amore. Other roles in this season included returns to the roles of Nemorino L’elisir d’amore at Teatro Massimo Palermo and Duca di Mantua Rigoletto at Los Angeles Opera. On the concert scene he sang Verdi’s Requiem at Concertgebouw Amsterdam and an Opera for Peace Concert at the Eiffel Tower.

On the concert platform, René has performed Verdi’s Requiem (Teatro alla Scala conducted by Riccardo Chailly, Danish National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fabio Luisi Philharmonie de Paris, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Seattle Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Moscow Conservatory, Wiener Konzerthaus, The Shed in New York City with MusicaAeterna conducted by Teodor Currentzis)Rossini’s Stabat Mater (Orchestre Philharmonie Luxembourg conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, Teatro alla Scala conducted by Myung-Whun Chung and the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro).

July 2025