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The American mezzo-soprano, Ivey Barr, grew up in a culture of a capella vocal music in the Primitive Baptist church. She began formally studying voice in 2010 with her mother, vocal/piano teacher Katie Cawley, and went on to work with Dr. Kathryn Evans in 2014. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Arts and Technology with a minor in Music from from the University of Texas at Dallas (2013-May 2017); and her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Arts and Technology from the same institute (2017-2020). As a Creative Practice MFA student in the Arts and Technology program, she studied marketing, web design, event production, and video-enhanced performance. In summer 2018, she studied and performed with Opera in Concert in Italy under the direction of Edward and Heather Crafts. She continued to study with Edward Crafts in Dallas for two years and still helps Opera in Concert run their website (since January 2018).
Known as a resourceful, irrepressible artist and inveterate performer of pants roles, Ivey Barr makes her Atlanta debut this January with Peach State Opera Company” as Cherubino in their English-language touring production of W.A. Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she has appeared online in virtual opera concerts with Spooky Goose Opera, as William Talvas in Ashes of Aquitaine with Altered Shakespeare, and in 18 classic play readings with Plague Mask Players.
From Plague Mask Players, Ivey Barr holds “Billy Awards” for her performances as Autolycus in The Winter's Tale, Ariel in The Tempest, Octavius Caesar in Antony & Cleopatra, Truffaldino in The Servant of Two Masters, Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband, The Fool in King Lear, and Cinesias in Lysistrata - including Best Leading Comedic Performance, Best Romance, and three successive Best Song awards.
As a founding member of Comet Opera, Ivey Barr made her opera debut as Cherubino in W.A. Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in April 2017 and was praised for her energy and physicality, which would become a trademark of her roles. She went on to appear in, translate for, coach, music-direct, advertise, and organize new productions for Comet Opera. Her other roles in Comet Opera include: Benedick in W.A. Mozart's Much Ado About Nothing (April 2018), Despina in W.A. Mozart's Così Fan Tutte (November-December 2018), Ruggiero in George Frideric Handel's Alcina (April 2019), and Sesto in W.A. Mozart's La clemenza di Tito (December 2019). In April 2018, she designed the W.A. Mozart pastiche operetta Much Ado for the newly-founded student organization and, as Benedick, explored the music of two of W.A. Mozart's early castrato roles, Cecilio in Lucio Silla and Ramiro in La Finta Giardiniera. While working on Così Fan Tutte (2018), she also began coaching student performers and partially translated the libretto, which became a recurring responsibility. Alcina (2019) also featured her English translations and music direction, while La clemenza di Tito (2019) featured English dialogue written for the production with castmates Avanti Dey (Vitellia) and Rachel Davies (director).
Outside of Comet Opera, Ivey Barr has performed across the genres of opera, musical theatre, plays, hybrid digital art, and street performance. She has appeared with Public Works Dallas at the Dallas Theater Center as Perdita in Lear DeBessonet’s musical adaptation of The Winter’s Tale, directed by Kent Gash, and as a featured singer in Shania Taub’s As You Like It, directed by Ann Yee; as Elizabeth in Juneteenth by Greg Ellis; as a street performer with PULSE Dallas; as a staff singer at Arapaho United Methodist Church (November 2019-June 2020); in the chorus of Dido and Aeneas in concert with Classical Fusion; and as Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus with North Carolina’s Little Opera Company of Charlotte. She has also appered with Opera in Concert in Italy, Opera on Tap, Voces Intimae, Dallas Classical Singers, in concert with pianist Lauren Barr.
Ivey Barr now resides in Atlanta, Georgia. On the rare occasion that her work does not directly involve singing, her friends often encourage her to sing anyway. |
