“…the awe-inspiring sound she produces proves enough to captivate listeners’ ears.”

Mezzo-soprano, Maria Kathleen Barnet, is an exceptional combination of vocal power and dramatic versatility.  Maria recently made her Carnegie Hall debut with Opera Orchestra of New York as La Vecchia in L’amore dei tre Re under the direction of Eve Queler.  She previously covered the role of Mistress Bentson for Opera Orchestra of New York’s production of Lakmé.  Other recent debuts include Opera Delaware (Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance) and Azucena with Opera in the Heights.  This summer she will be singing The Voice of Antonia's Mother (Tales of Hoffmann) and Third Lady.

Maria has moved audiences with her riveting portrayals of Gertrude (Hamlet) and Madame de Croissy (Dialogues of the Carmelites), as well as entertained with her hilarious interpretations of Katisha, Little Buttercup and Marcellina.  Other credits include appearances with the Natchez Opera Festival (Third Lady, Gertrude in Romeo et Juliette), Amici Opera (Federica in Luisa Miller and Gertrude in Hamlet), Lancaster Opera Company (Little Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore) and Delaware Valley Opera Company (Madame de Croissy in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Marcellina in Marriage of Figaro).  She apprenticed for two seasons with Des Moines Metro Opera, singing the role of Maurya in Riders to the Sea, Marion Hackett in Argento’s Christopher Sly, and covered the role of The Mother in Menotti’s The Consul.

Maria began singing in her native California, and appeared with The Berkeley Opera, Lamplighters, Bear Valley Music Festival, Livermore Valley Opera, San José Lyric Theatre, Pocket Opera, and Townsend Opera Players.  Her roles included Katisha in The Mikado, La Musica in Manon Lescaut, Marcellina, Berta in The Barber of Seville, Zulma in L’Italiana in Algieri, and Emilia in Otello.

Additionally, she created the role of Madame Georgetown in The Berkeley Opera’s production of LeCoq’s Daughter of the Cabinet, and recorded the role of Mary in Richard Paul Evans’ Midas and Marigold for Seacastle Music.  Maria graduated from San Francisco State University and currently resides in Pennsylvania.