Barbara Bonney: My Name is Barbara

It's a concept ideally suited to Bonney who, while American, has lived in London for many years and has recorded outstandingly successful English (Fairest Isle) and American (Songs with Andre Previn) discs for Decca.

Barbara Bonney is widely recognised as a superlative recital and concert artist and as one of the great Mozart singers of her generation. Her "Sophie" in Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier is legendary. She has been praised for her radiant tone and the engaging warmth of her personality, as well as for her stylistic versatility in a broad repertoire that ranges from the Baroque to contemporary music. She has made over 90 recordings for Decca, DG, EMI, Teldec and others, with the most important conductors and orchestras in the world today.

Barbara Bonney is sought after by today's leading orchestras and conductors, a measure of the high regard in which her exceptional vocal gifts and impeccable musicianship are held. She has performed regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado, the Vienna Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti and Seiji Ozawa, the Boston Symphony under Ozawa and André Previn, the Philharmonia under Vladimir Ashkenazy, and with many other leading conductors such as Carlo Maria Giulini, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Riccardo Chailly, Antonio Pappano, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Tilson Thomas and Christoph von Dohnanyi. In addition she has worked over a long period with three of Europe's outstanding authentic performance ensembles: the English Concert and Trevor Pinnock, Concentus Musicus Wien led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and the English Baroque Soloists with John Eliot Gardiner.

Recent engagements have included her debut as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro in Madrid, Alphise in Rameau's Les Boréades at Paris' La Bastille, Servillia in La clemenza di Tito in Salzburg and Angelica in Orlando at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Last year she appeared as Zdenka in Arabella for the Royal Opera (which she will repeat at La Bastille this year) and in Purcell's King Arthur at the Salzburg Festival, as well as taking part in recital and concert tours in the Far East, Australia and Europe.

Her discography is extensive, including many opera and choral recordings. Twenty solo recital discs include, for Teldec, discs of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Wolf and Strauss with the late Geoffrey Parsons, for Decca, American songs with André Previn, Robert and Clara Schumann with Ashkenazy, Strauss Songs with Malcolm Martineau, the Gramophone award-winning Diamonds in the Snow (with Antonio Pappano, with whom she has also recorded While I dream - songs by Schumann and Liszt), Fairest Isle - Renaissance and Baroque English songs with Christopher Hogwood, Im chambre separée, featuring Viennese operetta songs, and for Sony, a duet recital disc First Encounter with Angelika Kirchschlager. In Spring 2005 My name is Barbara - songs by Barber, Britten, Bernstein, Copland, Griffes and Quilter will be released on the Onyx label, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau.

A regular presenter for the BBC, she acts as "expert opinion" during the Cardiff Singer Competition. She also appears in documentaries and gives televised "Masterclasses for Amateurs" for the BBC as well as masterclasses for aspiring professionals worldwide. She is recipient of 5 honorary degrees including from her alma mater, the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1956, Barbara Bonney learned the piano and cello as a child. While studying German in Salzburg she enrolled at the Mozarteum. Later she made a series of important debuts and her international career took off. She now lives in London.