Barbara Hendricks
(born 20 November 1948) is an American-born operatic soprano and concert singer. She is also known for her work as a human rights activist. Hendricks is currently a citizen of Sweden.
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BARBARA HENDRICKS TICKETS
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Early life and education
Hendricks was born in
Stephens, Arkansas. She graduated from the
University of Nebraska with a
bachelor's degree in
mathematics and
chemistry at the age of 20. She then attended
Juilliard School of Music in
New York, where she studied with
mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel and participated in master classes led by
soprano Maria Callas. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in music.
Musical career
In 1974, Hendricks made her professional operatic debut in
Europe at the
Glyndebourne Festival and in America at the
San Francisco Opera. During her career, she has appeared at all major
opera houses throughout the world, including the
Paris Opera, the
Metropolitan Opera,
Royal Opera House at
Covent Garden, and
La Scala. In 1998 she sang Liu in the historical performance of
Turandot
at the
Forbidden City in
Beijing.
Hendricks has performed more than twenty roles, twelve of which she has recorded.
Hendricks has also appeared in film as Mimi in
La Bohème
, and in 1994 she participated in an international prize-winning film production of
The Rake's Progress
singing Anne Truelove.
Hendricks also performs
jazz music and made her jazz debut at the
Montreux Jazz Festival in 1994. Since that time, she has performed at major jazz festivals around the world. Hendricks is also known for her love of
chamber music and has organized a number of chamber music festivals.
In 2004, at the Chatelet opera of Paris, she performed the role of the angel in
Peter Eötvös opera:
Angels in America, after the play of
Tony Kushner.
In January 2006, she left
EMI, and created the new label
Arte Verum for which she would record exclusively.
Human rights
Hendricks has dedicated much of her life to the plight of
refugees and has been a long-time supporter of
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She has been named
Honorary Ambassador For Life by UNHCR and performs special tasks for that organization.
Since 2000, she has been a member of the Council of the Foundation for the
Refugee Education Trust. The RET is dedicated to post-primary education of refugee youth all over the world.
In 1991 and 1993 Hendricks gave two concerts in the war-torn
formerly Yugoslavian cities of
Dubrovnik and
Sarajevo. In 1998 she founded the Barbara Hendricks Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation, which seeks to facilitate reconciliation where conflicts have already occurred.
In 2001 she performed at the
Nobel Prize ceremony in
Oslo,
Norway, at the invitation of
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Kofi Annan. In May 2002, she performed at the
East Timor Independence Day Ceremony.