ALL ABOUT BARBARA
Singer of Songs. She/her.
Soprano Barbara Paterson returned to Aotearoa-NZ from New York City in 2016, having worked steadily as an opera and concert singer across the USA for several years. Since returning to NZ, Barbara has sung for Stroma, Java Dance, Orchestra Wellington, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the CANZ annual Nelson workshops, the SMP Ensemble, The Queen's Closet, Wanderlust Theatre, NZ Opera, the Audio Foundation, the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, Unstuck Opera, Eternity Opera, NIMBY Opera, CubaDupa, Avenue Opera, the Metamorphosis Artists, and as a soloist for choral societies around NZ. Her performances of Francis Poulenc’s “The Human Voice” for the 2020 NZ Festival of the Arts were critically acclaimed as “magnificent” and “exemplary”. Barbara was a 2020 Freemasons Resident Artist and a 2007 - 2008 Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artist for NZ Opera.
In 2023, Barbara’s work ranges from baroque opera (a return season of The Judgment of Paris with The Queen's Closet) to new music collaborations with Stroma (Cage Against The Machine), inter-disciplinary collaborations with dancers (Java Dance, Metamorphosis Artists, Chrissie Parriot's Decodance) and art song recitals (Messiaen's Harawi with Gabriela Glapska, multiple chamber music recitals around the country). Keenly interested in promoting vocal writing for composers, Barbara is currently a mentor and performer for the second year composition course at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music.
In addition to her performing work, Barbara conducts Wellington’s Capital Choir and regularly leads community choral outreach workshops with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Barbara is an Artist Teacher of Voice at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music. She maintains busy teaching studios and is a vocal coach for the auditioned choirs at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School and Wellington East Girls' College. Barbara has a BA in German (Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington), a BMus in Voice Performance (Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music) and a MMus in Voice Pedagogy and Performance (Westminster Choir College, Princeton NJ USA) . She has also studied at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and completed a fellowship at the Académie Francis Poulenc in Tours, France.
