Hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mary Burke Barber, “reveals [her] powerfully rich voice of regal warmth and strength” (critic Patrick D. McCoy). She has performed internationally, having made her debut with the Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra in 2015. 

 

For the 2024/2025 season, Mary joins Florida Grand Opera as a Studio Artist.  She will perform the roles of Die Zweite Dame in W. A. Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), Giannetta in Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’Amore (The Elixir of Love), and Mercédès in Georges Bizet’s Carmen.  Early January 2025, Mary performed as a finalist in the Opera Tampa D'Angelo Young Artist Competition.  At the start of the 2024 season, she returned to Sarasota Opera as a Studio Artist, covering the roles of Micaela in Georges Bizet’s Carmen, and Vespina in Joseph Haydn’s L’infedeltà Delusa (Deceit Outwitted).  Mary additionally competed as a semi-finalist in the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition.

 

The Winter of 2023, Mary joined Sarasota Opera as an Apprentice Artist, singing in the chorus of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, W. A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Giuseppe Verdi’s Ernani, and Jules Massenet’s Thérèse.  She was awarded the Sarasota Opera Guild Ann J. O’Donnell Award for Outstanding Apprentice Artist.  Additionally in the 2023 season, Mary competed as a semi-finalist in the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition.

 

The Fall of 2022, she joined the Westminster Opera Theater at Rider University as a guest artist to perform the role of Barigoule in a production of Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon (Cinderella).  The Summer of 2022 brought Mary to Vienna, Austria to participate in the Vienna Summer Music Festival.  There, she performed the role of Zerlina in W. A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and covered the role of Cherubino in W. A. Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro).  Additionally in 2022, Mary received second place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Eastern Region Student Auditions (Advanced Level) and a Finalist in the MIOpera Competition.  

 

Mary began her musical studies at the Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore, Maryland under the care of Phyllis Bryn-Julson. During her undergraduate studies, she completed a joint degree with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore, under the direction of Alan Bennett. She completed her master's degree at Peabody under the tutelage of Denyce Graves-Montgomery and Margaret Baroody in the Spring of 2018.