Peter Barrett

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Peter Barrett in a blue suit outside leaning against a log cabin-style wall, smiling with his arms crossed.

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"...all the ingredients of a major singer—gorgeous voice, solid training, stage presence, musicality, and the drive and ability to excel."

Joseph So, La Scena Musicale (Met Opera debut)

02.Biography

A recipient of the Ian Rosenblatt Bursary at the Wexford Festival in Ireland and a top prizewinner at the Montreal International Music Competition, Newfoundland and Labrador baritone Peter Barrett is one of Canada’s most important and acclaimed artists on the opera and concert stage. In the current season, Barrett will cover Mercutio in Romeo et Juliette and Morales in Carmen at the Met, and he will sing Wolseley in Louis Riel at the Canadian Opera Company, Mozart’s Requiem with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and Emile De Becque in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific with the Calgary Opera.

Barrett recently joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera, where he made his debut in the role of Malatesta in Don Pasquale opposite Anna Netrebko and covered the role of Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus. He also returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Morales in Carmen. An alumnus of the Ensemble Studio of the Canadian Opera Company, Barrett has appeared with the COC in many roles, including Dr. Falke, Marcello in La boheme, Denisov/Rayevsky in War and Peace, Ned Keene in Peter Grimes, the Mandarin in Turandot, Marullo in Rigoletto, Dancaïro in Carmen, Ping in Turandot, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, and in Janacek’s From the House of the Dead. He has also appeared throughout the country with Vancouver Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa and Opera Hamilton, among others.

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    04.Press

    • On the left, the set, and on the right, the house programme for Into the Woods

      CBC News

      Nov 22, 2017

      Opera on the Avalon's Into the Woods gets a Newfoundland twist

      Barrett, who is from Corner Brook, is one of the names among a local star-studded lineup of performers in the production, which also includes Kelly-Ann Evans, Dana Parsons, Ryan MacDonald and more. "I've been a professional singer for longer than I should say," he joked, adding he has sung all over the world, performing operas and musicals.

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    • Peter Barrett standing in the woods on a sunny day, wearing a dark suit and look off to the right.

      The Western Star

      Sep 04, 2017

      Corner Brook’s Peter Barrett to sing in Opera on the Avalon production

      Not long after that literal foray into the great Newfoundland outdoors, the opera singer and former Corner Brook resident will return back in the province to lurk in a more figurative sense in an enchanted forest. In November, Barrett will be joining the Opera On The Avalon team to play the role of The Butcher in the musical “Into the Woods.”

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