Megan Barrera – MIA Artists Management

Megan Barrera
Soprano

Personal Website

Cuban-Puerto Rican soprano Megan Barrera is a native of Miami Florida, and is an active performer of both opera and concert repertoire. This year Ms. Barrera was the second prizewinner of the Gabriela Beňačková International Vocal Competition in the Czech Republic. In 2018, Ms. Barrera was the first prizewinner of the Certamen Nuevas Voces Ciudad de Sevilla, Spain. She was also a prizewinner of the Concorso Lirico Premio Koliqi in Milan, Italy and the International Vissi D’arte Competition in the Czech Republic. In 2017, Ms. Barrera was the first prizewinner of the Saint Petersburg Opera Guild Competition in Florida and the Rochester Oratorio Society Classical Idol Competition in New York. In 2016, Ms. Barrera was awarded the Munday Encouragement Award at the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition. Ms. Barrera has also been awarded a grant from the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust.

Ms. Barrera was recently seen and given great acclaim in recital with pianist Francisco Soriano in Festival de Cádiz, Spain. This past summer Ms. Barrera toured a Music of the Americas Recital with pianist, Dr. João Paulo Casarotti. They performed in London, Lisbon, and different cities in Brazil. Ms. Barrera also made her Alhambra Orchestra debut in Miami, FL, and she was recently heard as one of the fairies in the Miami City Ballet Balanchine’s production of A Midsummer Nights Dream.

In 2020, she will make her debut with Divadlo J.K. Tyla Plzni, Czech Republic, singing Micaëla in Carmen. Ms. Barrera will also get to sing the four heroines in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann with Opéra Louisiane. Special mention deserves her next debut at the Teatro de la Maestranza of Seville in La Traviata, as the winner of the Nuevas Voces Certamen prize, which also includes concerts with Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla. In 2021, Ms. Barrera will also debut with Thüringen Philharmonic in Germany and Kraków Philharmonic in Poland.

Ms. Barrera holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree and a Master of Music Degree from Louisiana State University where she was the recipient of a full tuition scholarship. She completed her Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of Miami where she was also a recipient of the Bertha Foster full tuition scholarship.

American soprano Megan Barrera won the first prize last year in the Nueva Voces de Sevilla Vocal Competition, an award that has boosted her presence in the Spanish Music Festival of Cádiz in 2019, and with merit. Ms. Barrera produced a concert program to show off all of her qualities, she received full support from the audience at length with sincerity. In the first part the soprano was restrained in gesture, although her generous expressiveness was accompanied by the emotion transmitted in the interpretation of the Sieben frühe Lieder of Berg with her highly vibrated voice ... in the songs of the Tres Poemas of Turina ... the singer strongly supported the changes of character between the songs, especially with the courageous momentum in the initial "Olas gigantes" and subsequent melismatic passages. In the second part, the musical duo performed lyrical pieces. Megan Barrera surprised me with the slow- paced staging and the intense passionate musical reading of "Esta es su carta"... it was noted that the soprano carries a great dynamic domain and the roundness of her voice continues throughout her upper register. Francisco Soriano's long and tasteful introduction to the “Canzone di Salice and Ave Maria” of Otello created the respectful atmosphere that hosted this recitative-aria, which requires full soprano voices, such as Megan Barrera. Both performers enjoyed the encore "¡Sí, yo soy Cecilia Valdés", of the homonymous Cuban zarzuela composed by Gonzalo Roig, sang and danced by Megan Barrera asserting her Cuban-Puerto Rican origin.”

DIARIO Bahía de Cádiz

“But it was the Cuban Puerto Rican American Megan Barrera who won the favor of the judges, with very expressive singing, ample facility to modulate and surprising register changes...she sang a complicated piece from Daniel Catán’s opera Florencia en el Amazonas.”

El Correo de Andalucía

“As Berta, Megan Barrera was a scene stealer, her crotchety, sneezing persona consistently greeted by laughter. Barrera’s voice was equally enchanting in her brief aria.”

South Florida Classical Review

"Megan Barrera sang Donna Anna with an equally big, warmer voice that showed off the expansive top she demonstrated in her rendition of Cole Porter’s “So In Love” during the opening-night concert. In “Or sai chi l’onore,” she built admirably from the recitative into the indignant, vengeful outburst, and in “Non mi dir, bell’idol mio,” the basic generosity of her voice was keenly evident...[a] fine singer...[who] earned huge ovations from the audience Sunday afternoon at curtain call.”

Palm Beach Arts Paper

"Soprano Megan Barrera, in her role as Norina, demonstrated an impressive range and great projection...her acting was colorful and she definitely brought great personality to her role."

The Wichita Eagle