Spotlight Sunday - Robert Barefield
Hello Connecticut! We are happy to being featuring members of the cast of The Tender Land which will be at the Aetna Theater at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art on June 2 & 4. Lots more details can be found on The Tender Land page on our website. Learn about our accessibility efforts for this production as well as what is in store for you when you come to the theater. Check back because tickets go on sale one week from today - April 30th! Today's spotlight is baritone, Robert Barefield. He will be joining us as Pa Moss for this production.
Baritone Robert Barefield has performed as soloist with organizations throughout the United States and in Europe, including the New Orleans Opera, Connecticut Concert Opera, Hartford Opera Theatre, the Mississippi Symphony, the Arizona Opera, the Dorian Opera Theatre, the Central City Opera, the Ohio Light Opera and Operafestival di Roma in Italy. Operatic roles have included Danilo in The Merry Widow, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Sid in Albert Herring, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, John Proctor in Robert Ward's The Crucible and the title roles in Don Giovanni and Gianni Schicchi. As an oratorio soloist, Barefield's performances have included Carmina Burana, the Fauré Requiem, The Sea Symphony and Dona Nobis Pacem of Vaughan Williams and Handel's Messiah. In October 2015, he will perform as soloist in the Brahms Requiem with the Chattanooga Symphony. An accomplished recitalist, Robert Barefield's wide-ranging repertoire has encompassed works such as Schubert's Winterreise and Die Schöne Müllerin, Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel and premiere performances of works by contemporary composers such as Lowell Liebermann, Robert Maggio and David Conte. His European recital performances have included venues in Austria, Germany and Spain. In 2008, Barefield performed the role of Bishop Zumarraga in the world premiere of James DeMars' opera, Guadalupe - Our Lady of the Roses. These performances were recorded and released by Canyon Records. Two Plus One, Barefield's CD of art song duets (with soprano Carole FitzPatrick and pianist Eckart Sellheim) was released by Cavalli Records of Bamberg, Germany. Two additional CDs, Occident Meets Orient (with Carole Fitzpatrick and pianist Russell Ryan) and Songs to Fill the Void (with pianist Carolyn Hague), were released by Albany Records. He has made presentations at national conferences of leading music organizations and his articles on voice-related topics have appeared in The Journal of Singing, The American Music Teacher, and The Music Educator's Journal. Barefield received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was a Corbett Opera Scholar. He is Associate Professor at the Hartt School in Connecticut, having served on music faculties at Arizona State University, Southern Methodist University and others. His summer activities have included performing and teaching at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Operafestival di Roma, the Vianden International Music Festival in Luxembourg and the IES Center in Vienna, Austria (in collaboration with Carolyn Hague and Michael Pinkerton). Robert Barefield’s current and former voice students are active as performers and educators throughout the country.
Here is what Robert had to say about opera without borders:
Opera without borders suggests a type of performance that reaches beyond standard expectations and limitations. When presented with creativity and innovation, opera has the potential to reach new audience members while impacting traditional audiences in new ways.
