Barbara Bonney

Barbara Bonney ranks among the most adaptable vocalists of her time, balancing success across art song, oratorio, contemporary vocal works, and opera while also developing strong command of the cello. Her voice, limited in volume yet clearly projected, suits Mozart especially well, along with the brighter Richard Strauss operas and nearly all but the weightiest lieder, and she has chosen her material with restraint, preserving a youthful, light tone well into her forties.

Her upbringing offered little musical exposure, so her parents learned of her perfect pitch only by accident when, at three, she reproduced household sounds such as a clock’s melody with exact accuracy. Piano study came first, yet she soon favored the cello for its lyrical character. Interest in German steered her toward singing: while enrolled at the University of New Hampshire she arranged a year at the University of Salzburg. Various jobs—cooking, selling produce, and copying music—supported her there until a friend urged an audition with the Mozarteum orchestra. Shipping her cello proved too costly, so she prepared a song instead and received an offer to study lieder. That outcome prompted a further audition at the Darmstadt Opera, where knowledge of only two arias secured the youthful role of Anna in Nicolai’s Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor. During her years with the company she mastered more than forty operatic parts.

The year 1984 brought her Vienna State Opera debut as Sophie in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, a part that would become central to her reputation. Another defining role, Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, marked her 1985 La Scala debut. In 1987 a Monte Carlo performance of Sophie attracted conductor Carlos Kleiber. Lucia Popp likewise praised Bonney’s interpretation and, when moving to the Marschallin herself, stated that she was entrusting the role to Bonney as the next generation’s exponent. Her Metropolitan Opera debut occurred in 1988 as Naiad in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. During the 1990s, able to select engagements more freely, she reduced her operatic appearances to favored characters such as Pamina, Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, and Ilia in Idomeneo, while adding Zdenka in Strauss’s Arabella and Hanna Glawari in Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe. Like Popp, she relinquished Sophie to younger singers, thereby gaining time for lieder recitals and teaching.

She was married for a time to baritone Hakan Hagegard. Among recordings that convey her voice effectively are the Mozart arias on London 460 571 and the Schubert lieder on Teldec 90873.