Fleur Barron

Hailed as “a knockout performer” by The Times, Singaporean-British mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron was awarded the 2022 Schubert Prize alongside Brigitte Fassbender by the Schubertíada. She has been chosen by Het Concertgebouw as a “Hemelsbestormer” (Skystormer) for the 22-23 season and has been designated an Artistic Partner of the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Oviedo for several seasons beginning in 22-23, for which she will curate/perform multiple projects each year. A passionate interpreter of opera, chamber music, and concert works ranging from the baroque to the contemporary, Fleur is mentored by Barbara Hannigan.

In the 2022-2023 season, Fleur has a string of exciting orchestral debuts: Debussy’s La Damoiselle Elue with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Orchestre de Paris, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Maestro Tugan Sokhiev, Berio’s Folksongs with Sir Mark Elder on tour with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Brucker’s Te Deum with Vasily Petrenko and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Thomas Hengelbrock and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, Berlioz Les Nuits d’Ete and arias from Carmen with the Slovenian Philharmonic, and concerts with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias. On the operatic stage, Fleur makes her debut with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in the title role of Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen in a new production by Peter Sellars. She also sings the title role in Hasse’s Marc Antonio e Cleopatra with the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover; the title role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with La Nuova Musica for a recording on the Pentatone label; alto soloist in a new, staged production of Mozart’s Requiem at the Opéra National de Bordeaux; and Bersi in Andrea Chénier and Mallika in Lakme for Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the latter of which she also reprises at the Théâtre de Champs-Elysées. On the recital platform, Fleur joins her regular collaborator Julius Drake for concerts at Het Concertgebouw, MiTO Festival in Milan and Turin, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, and Winterreise in Germany and at the Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris. She also joins duo partner Kunal Lahiry for recitals at Wigmore Hall and Oxford Lieder Festival, and teams up with Malcolm Martineau for an all-Britten recital at Snape Maltings.

In the 2021-2022 season, Fleur returned to the Aix-en-Provence Festival as Ottavia in L’Incoronazione di Poppea to great critical acclaim under the baton of Leonardo Garcia Alarcon and to Opéra de Toulon as Pauline in Tchaikovky’s Pique Dame. She also sang the title role in Carmen at Arizona Opera, Schwertleite in Die Walküre at English National Opera, and the title role in Hänsel und Gretel in Oviedo. On the concert platform, she debuted with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican under Barbara Hannigan and performed two recitals at the Wigmore Hall: an all-Mahler program with Graham Johnson and Alice Coote, and works for voice and string quartet with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective. Fleur reunited with Julius Drake Schubert's Winterreise in Barcelona, Las Palmas and Ireland, and with Kunal Lahiry for a recital she curated around Empire/Identity at the Aldeburgh Festival, the Hugo Wolf Akademie, Stuttgart, and in Berlin. Last season also saw the release of CDs of Brahms and Samuel Barber songs, as well as a world premiere recording of the Handel/Hasse opera "Caio Fabbricio HWV A9" with London Early Opera for Signum Records, in which she sang the lead role of Pirro.

Recent engagements include debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, the Munich Philharmonic under Barbara Hannigan, the BBCSO, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic, and roles with the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, La Monnaie/de Munt, Garsington Opera, Opéra National de Montpellier, Opéra National du Rhin and Cape Town Opera.

Fleur is committed to the way music can facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and healing. She is passionate about curating inclusive chamber music programming that amplifies the voices of diverse communities. Born in Northern Ireland to a Singaporean mother and British father, Fleur grew up in Hong Kong and later New York. She holds degrees from Columbia University (B.A. Comparative Literature) and Manhattan School of Music (M.M. Vocal Performance).