Carnegie Hall

Hailed as “a knockout performer” by The Times (London), Singaporean British mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron is a passionate interpreter of opera, symphonic works, and chamber music from the Baroque to the contemporary. She is currently artistic partner of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Oviedo, for which she will curate and perform multiple projects across several seasons. She is mentored by Barbara Hannigan.

This season, Ms. Barron emerges as a leading voice in Mahlerian repertoire across a series of symphonic debuts: Das Lied von der Erde with Daniel Harding and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on tour across Germany, with Mr. Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm and on tour to Spain, with Kent Nagano and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg at the Elbphilharmonie, and at the Oregon Bach Festival; Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Nathalie Stutzmann and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; the composer’s Second Symphony with the Orquesta de Valencia; Rückert-Lieder with Philzuid; and Kindertotenlieder at Het Concertgebouw’s Mahler Festival. Other orchestral engagements include Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, Saariaho’s Adriana Songs with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and orchestrated Schubert songs with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias.

She takes on three new opera roles: Concepción in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra under Ludovic Morlot, as well as a studio recording; Comrade Chin / Shu-Fang in Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly at the Barbican Centre directed by James Robinson; and Galatea in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo with La Nuova Musica at Wigmore Hall.

The season heralds the commercial release of Ms. Barron’s debut orchestral recording with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and Mr. Morlot, featuring Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Trois poèmes de Mallarmé. A celebrated recitalist, she undertakes a six-city North American recital tour with pianist Kunal Lahiry, as well as further American tour dates with the Parker Quartet in a program of Brahms, Mahler, and Anthony Cheung. She also joins her frequent collaborator Julius Drake for concerts in London, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Madrid, Manchester, and Oviedo. Beyond the performance stage, she conducts master classes at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki, Harvard University, Royal Northern College of Music, Boston University, and Manhattan School of Music.

Ms. Barron is committed to the various ways music facilitates 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, Ms. Barron grew up in Hong Kong and later New York. She holds degrees from Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music.

Indian American pianist Kunal Lahiry is a former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the 2021 Carl Bechstein Foundation scholarship. Recent performance highlights include appearances at Wigmore Hall, Musikverein Vienna, Elbphilharmonie, Boulez Saal, the Concertgebouw, Théâtre de l’Athénée, and Konzerthaus Berlin. In June 2023, he curated Queer Song Fest at St. George’s Bristol, broadcast by BBC Radio 3. He has also been featured on ARTE’s Hope@Home and Europe@Home series hosted by violinist Daniel Hope.

Mr. Lahiry has commissioned and premiered works by Nico Muhly, Errollyn Wallen, Nahre Sol, Héloïse Werner, Alex Ho, Kian Ravaei, Molly Joyce, Lyra Pramuk, Viktor Orri Árnason, Guðmundur Emilsson, Zachary Radler, Zubaida Azezi, and Edo Frenkel. He is currently in the process of creating trans*Winterreise, taking the dramatic scope and psychological landscape of Schubert’s song cycle and reimagining it as a contemporary narrative for queer identity with 24 new songs by queer poets and composers. He received grants from Musikfonds and the Center for Musical Excellence to finance and co-produce an interdisciplinary video project titled Homescapes with Icelandic soprano and visual artist Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, and created a music video with Boomtown Media Productions that explores queerness in classical music through the support of the Liedzentrum Heidelberg. In 2022, he was invited to create a conceptual, interdisciplinary song recital for the Heidelberger Frühling Festival Lied.LAB, which he called Sleep Cycle of an Insomniac.

Mr. Lahiry has been invited to several young artist programs for pianists that specialize in art song. In 2018, he was selected for the inaugural Royaumont-Orsay Academy, culminating in a live recording released by B Records. He also joined the SongStudio at Carnegie Hall, mentored by Renée Fleming, and was invited by Thomas Hampson to participate in the Heidelberg Lied Academy. In addition, he received the Sam Hutchings Pianist Prize at Malcolm Martineau’s Oxenfoord International Summer School.

Originally from Gainesville, Georgia, Mr. Lahiry was a Schulich Scholar at McGill University, and graduated with distinction in song interpretation from the Hochschule für Müsik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. He is an Equilibrium Young Artist, Samling Artist, Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Artist, and Britten Pears Young Artist.