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 2024/25 season, René will make major role debuts with Roberto Devereux at Teatro di San Carlo, Arnold Guillaume Tell at New National Theatre Tokyo, and Gennaro Lucrezia Borgia at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. He will begin the season with a return to Dutch National Opera in the role of Duca di Mantua Rigoletto and makes a debut at Teatro Regio Torino as Nemorino L’elisir d’amore. Other roles in this season include returns to the roles of Arturo I Puritani at Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Nemorino L’elisir d’amore at Teatro Massimo Palermo and Duca di Mantua Rigoletto at Los Angeles Opera. On the concert scene he will sing Verdi’s Requiem at Concertgebouw Amsterdam and an Opera for Peace Concert at the Eiffel Tower.

In the 2023/24 season, René performed the roles of Ernesto Don Pasquale and Alfredo La Traviata at Opéra national de Paris, Ricardo Percy Anna Bolena at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Don Ottavio Don Giovanni at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Il Conte d’Almaviva Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Arena di Verona. Other roles include Don Ramiro La Cenerentola (Bayerische Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, New National Theatre in Tokyo, and Los Angeles Opera) Alfredo La traviata (Teatro alla Scala, Dallas Opera, Teatro Massimo di Palermo and Festival Castell Peralada) Nemorino L’elisir d’amore, Ernesto Don Pasquale, Il Conte d’Almaviva Il barbiere di Siviglia (Wiener Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Dutch National Opera, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Los Angeles Opera, Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, New National Theatre in Tokyo), Nadir Les pêcheurs de perles (Dallas Opera) Lindoro L’italiana in Algeri (The Metropolitan Opera), Edgardo Lucia di Lammermoor (Deutsche Oper Berlin and Lyric Opera of Chicago), Iopas Les Troyens (San Francisco Opera) Arturo I puritani (Opéra national de Paris and Staatstheater Stuttgart), Tonio La fille du régiment (Opernhaus Zürich, Austin Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Greensboro Opera), Giannetto La gazza ladra and Narciso Il turco in Italia (Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro), Uberto La donna del lago (Santa Fe Opera), Italian Singer Der Rosenkavalier (Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago), Ricardo Percy Anna Bolena (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma) Idomeneo (Teatro Massimo di Palermo)

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).

November 2023