Barbara LeMay, an audience charmer par excellence with a warm, authentic aura, is one of opera’s most promising young mezzo-sopranos.
This year she sang as Mezzo-Soprano Soloist in both Robert Cohen's Alzheimer’s Stories with the Northminster Chancel Choir and Chamber Orchestra, and Lady Capulet in a hybrid Shakespeare/Berlioz Romeo and Juliet with Indianapolis' 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 the role of The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors 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 as The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors 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
Barber |
Massenet |
Beethoven - 9. Sinfonie, Messe in C-Dur |
Pergolesi - Salve Regina |
“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