Barbara Leifer is an American-born musician whose rich and dramatic mezzo-soprano voice has been praised in both opera and concert. 

 

In opera, Barbara has captivated audiences and critics across the United States as Carmen on tour with the San Francisco Opera, as well as her Carnegie Hall debut in the title role of the world premiere of Eric Funk’s opera Pamelia. Other opera roles she performed include Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Fricka in Die Walküre, Erda in Das Rheingold, the Page in Salome, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Così fan Tutte, Frau Peachum and Lucy in Die Dreigroschenoper, and Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana.

 

As concert soloist, she has sung the most important works of Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Dvorak, Mahler, and Britten with orchestras such as the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the RAI Television Orchestra in Rome, the American Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, and the Manhattan Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. She has sung as a concert soloist in Paris’ L’Eglise Saint Eustache, L’Eglise Saint Germain des Pres, Oratoire du Louvre, St. Ludwig in Berlin, and in Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City.

 

A native of Kansas City, Barbara Leifer began her musical career as a pianist. She received scholarships in both piano and voice and was the winner of the New York Grand Opera singing competition. She studied at The Juilliard School in New York, where she graduated with a Master’s Degree and Concert Performance Diploma in Voice.