Rachel Cooper Barnard, soprano, has
performed in recital and with companies such as the National Chorale,
Opera at Florham, Stage One Productions, National Grand Opera, and the
Oklahoma Opera and Music Theater Company.
An enthusiastic advocate for music education, she has taught private and
class voice to students ranging in age from children to adults, and has
directed children’s operas for Oklahoma City’s Canterbury Children’s
Chorus.
Formerly of Winchester, Massachusetts, she lived in the New York City
area for many years. She presented her New York City recital debut – An
Evening of British and American Song -- at Central Park West’s Second
Presbyterian Church. Her Oklahoma professional debut was as Pamina in
Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Enid Symphony Orchestra. In 2002,
Barnard returned to the Enid Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist
in Mozart’s Requiem.
A member of Pi Kappa Lambda, Ms. Barnard graduated summa cum laude with
her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Oklahoma City University;
and with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Opera Performance from the State
University of New York at Purchase (now Purchase College). She was the
2000 First Alternate Winner for the Tulsa District's Metropolitan Opera
Council auditions.
While at Oklahoma City University she performed the roles of Norina in
Don Pasquale, Greta Fiorentino in Street Scene, and Lisette in La
Rondine; was featured soloist with the Oklahoma City University Symphony
Orchestra for Edward Knight’s Life is Fine (a six-song setting of poems
of Langston Hughes); sang Martin Mailman’s For precious friends hid in
death’s dateless night with the OCU Wind Philharmonic; and made her
Oklahoma City recital debut.
She and her husband, Tim, have a son, Cooper, and a daughter, Erin.
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