Rachel Barnard

Rachel Barnard,
Instructor of Voice
Voice
School of Music

Biography

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 Zauberflote 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.