Barry Banks

Tenor

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“Barry Banks delivers a dazzlingly authoritative account of the title role, a capricious autocrat brilliantly characterised by continual volleys above the stave.”
(Max Loppert, BBC Music Magazine)

In a prestigious career built on excellent bel canto credentials, Barry Banks performances of roles by Bellini, Rossini and Doniezetti have taken him to the world’s leading opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Teatre del Liceu and the Salzburg Festival, culminating in his debut this season at the Rossini Opera Festival in Peasro in a revival of Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra. In the USA, his season will not only include debuts at Opera Philhadelphia (The Love for Three Oranges), and at Dallas Opera (The Golden Cockerel); but will also include the world premiere of Matt Aucion’s Eurydice at Los Angeles Opera. Concert highlights include Lulu with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst.

Rossini: Duet from Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghliterra © Theater an der Wien

Rossini: ‘Le comte Ory’ (extract) © Seattle Opera

The Making of Mitridate conducted by Ian Page © Classical Opera

Mahler: Symphony No.8 © Utah Symphony Orchestra

Elgar: King Olaf - King Olaf's Return (excerpt) © Chandos

Mozart: Mitridate, Re di Ponto - Vado incontro © Signum Classics

Berlioz: Sanctus - Grande Messe des morts (excerpt) © LSO Live

Rossini: Bianca e Falliero (excerpt 1) © Opera Rara

Rossini: Bianca e Falliero (excerpt 2) © Opera Rara

Rossini: Count Ory (excerpt) © Chandos

“The role of the Astrologer calls for a tenor who can dispatch stratospheric lines, and Barry Banks does so with heroic power and assurance.”

(Dallas Morning News, October 2019)

“As his sidekick Truffaldino, Barry Banks’ pliable tenor soared fearlessly, effortlessly to encompass the heights demanded by this role’s tessitura.”

(Opera Today, September 2019)

“Barry Banks, in the title role of Roberto Devereux, seemed to pace himself so as to rise to the occasion in his final, crucial aria, ‘Come uno spirito angelico’…this outpouring found Banks at his most authoritative and expressive.”

(Opera Magazine, May 2019)

“Barry Banks brings an appropriately plangent tone to the innocuous Idreno…He sings confidently the character’s two fiendishly difficult arias and makes his mark in the concertato numbers too, soaring with the soprano above the lower voices to exciting effect.”

(Opera Magazine, Disc of the month, January 2019)

“As the Duke, Barry Banks peeled off the high notes with impressive ease, extending the final note of ‘La donna è mobile’ with carefree nonchalance.”

(Opera Magazine, November 2018)

“Barry Banks sails through Idreno’s vocal flights with ease, and his Act 2 courtship of Azema, ‘La speranza più soave’, is beautifully shaped, shuddering with passion.”

(Opera Today, September 2018)

“Best of all was Barry Banks, who projected the Astrologer’s pronouncements, scored in the vocal stratosphere, securely, stylishly and with lovely tone.”

(Opera Magazine, October 2017)

“The solution to the Tsar’s problem is supplied by a mysterious Astrologer. This tenor altino role has stratospheric demands that include a full-throated high E, dazzlingly sung by Barry Banks”

(Classical Voice America, August 2017)

“Barry Banks is a stylish and formidable vocal artist and ideal as the villain Norfolk.”

(News.at, March 2017)

“Served well by the lighter, clearer textures of the period Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Barry Banks’ Idreno carried beautifully through the hall, his music shaped with a striking range of colours, and his aria “La speranza più soave” was a love song of tremendous poignancy.”

(Arts Desk, September 2016)

“As Idreno, Barry Banks scaled the wilder Rossinian peaks as if out for an afternoon stroll. He displayed lovely soft tone in his Act II aria “La spreanza più soave””

(Bachtrack, September 2016)

“The ever-reliable Barry Banks gave a notable rendition of the strenuous and demanding role of Idreno, culminating in a sterling account of ‘La speranza più soave’ and its fiendishly showy finish.”

(Classical Source, September 2016)

“Sunday’s cast presented Barry Banks, a tenor with handsome tone quality and adroit comic sense, in the title role.”

(Seattle Times, August 2016)

“There are few tenors around capable of doing justice to Arturo, and Barry Banks delivers another outstanding performance with not only remarkable agilità but also a distinctively pinging plangency at the top.”

(Opera Magazine, November 2015)

“Barry Banks assaults Arturo’s stratospheric notes fearlessly, and sings throughout with an idiomatic grasp of bel canto style”

(The Times, September 2015)

“Banks [has] passionate commitment, projecting this exceptionally difficult and high-lying music with the same combination of tonal sweetness and pinging clarity that made Pavarotti famous.”

(The Telegraph, September 2015)

“as Don Narcisco the tenor Barry Banks has pinging top notes to complement his hilarious, Elvis-meets-Trotsky portrayal of an unlikely ladies’ man.”

(The Telegraph, April 2015)