Barbara LeMay, an audience charmer par excellence with a warm, authentic aura, is one of opera’s most endearing mezzo-sopranos.

In 2019 Ms. LeMay sang as Mezzo-Soprano Soloist in both Robert Cohen's Alzheimer’s Stories with the Northminster Chancel Choir and Chamber Orchestra, and both Lady Capulet in a hybrid Shakespeare/Berlioz Romeo et Juliet  and the role of The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Shakespeare Opera Theatre. In 2018, Ms. LeMay sang the Alto Solo in David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion with Resonance Works Pittsburgh. In the 2015/16 season, she appeared as Lady Bertram in Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park at Indianapolis Opera and she returned to reprise Amahl's Mother with Resonance Works | Pittsburgh, where she also performed as Prince Charmant in Cendrillon. With The National Opera Association, she sang the role of Sarah in William David Cooper’s new opera Hagar. In the previous season, she appeared as Polinesso in Händel's Ariodante with Cincinnati Chamber Opera and Amahl's Mother with Resonance Works | Pittsburgh. In the 2013/14 season, she performed Charlotte in Werther with Opera Company of Brooklyn, La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica with Asheville Lyric Opera, and Mezzo Soprano No. 2 in the world premiere of Line Tjørnhøj’s chamber opera Oration at the Center for Contemporary Opera (NYC). She also sang at Indianapolis Opera in a benefit concert marking Verdi’s 200th birthday. Read More

In recent seasons Barbara LeMay has sung the roles of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly at St. Petersburg Opera in Florida, Bersi in Andrea Chénier with Center Stage Opera, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Company of Brooklyn, Gertrude in Hänsel und Gretel with Paul Mesner Puppets and the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and Aurelia in Oscar Straus’ The Chocolate Soldier with Liederkranz Opera Theatre. 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. She has sung the mezzo solo in Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and in Italy she 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.

In 2010 Barbara LeMay recorded an 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.

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. Read Less

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 Prince Charmant - Cendrillon Charlotte - Werther Menotti Mother - Amahl and the Night Visitors Secretary - The Consul Mozart Dorabella - Così fan tutte 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.

“Barbara LeMay's Lady Bertram, a character somewhat to one side of the action, forever cradling her beloved pug, reflected the generational divide well.”(Mansfield Park)

Jay Harvey, JAY HARVEY UPSTAGE, 2016

“(Amahl's) widowed mother, Barbara LeMay brought a thickly layered voice and natural sense of musical line to the maternal role, which also features the opera’s only real aria-like passage.”

Elizabeth Bloom, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 2015

“Suzuki and Sharpless, played by Barbara LeMay and Todd von Felker were very impressive and at times outshined their lead counterparts. In the duets between Suzuki and Butterfly LeMay displayed beautiful vocal control in her dynamic contrast… Believability was one thing that was not lacking from any character in this production. Their acting was strong… the performance was met with a standing ovation by the end of the night.”

Melanie O’Neill, EXAMINER.COM, JUNE 2011

“As Suzuki, Barbara LeMay made the flower duet a joyous thing, as she, Butterfly and the geisha's son, Dolore, tossed pink petals around the stage.”

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, June 2011

“Barbara LeMay is a consummate artist: a brilliant musician, a sensitive and compelling actress with a most beautiful voice.”

Colin Graham