Martin Bárta

Biography

Baritone Martin Bárta studied voice at the Conservatory in Pardubice under Svatava Šubrtová (1990) and at the Academy of Music in Prague under René Tuček (2006). After teaching vocal theory and practice for two years, in 1995 he became a soloist of the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec. Besides opera roles – for instance, Giorgio Germont (La traviata), Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Ottokar (Der Freischütz), Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades) – his repertoire also included operetta and musical roles (e.g. Freddy in Loewe’s My Fair Lady). In 1997 he joined the State Opera Prague, where he debuted as the Herald in Lohengrin. He went on to portray Germont, Eugene Onegin, Valentin in Faust, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Escamillo in Carmen, Schaunard and Marcello in Leoncavallo’s and Puccini’s La bohème, Amonasro (Aida), Nabucco, Rigoletto, Scarpia, Shuisky, Mathis in Karel Weis’ The Polish Jew etc. He has frequently appeared on the stages of the National Theatre in Prague, singing Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Smetana’s Přemysl (Libuše), Sir Cecil in Britten´s Gloriana, Kalina (Smetana: The Secret), Fotis, the priest (Martinů: The Greek Passion), Jaroslav Prus in Janáček’s The Makropulos Case, The Devil (Martinů: The Miracles of Mary), Telramund (Lehengrin), and Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier). At the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava he has portrayed Don Giovanni and Silvio (I Pagliacci), at the National Theatre Brno Don Giovanni and Escamillo. At the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava he has guest appeared as King Vladislav in Smetana's Dalibor, Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Nabucco, Marcello in La bohème, Bohumír in Dvořák's Armida, Nabucco or Hindemith's Cardillac. When it comes to concerts and oratorios, most noteworthy in his repertoire are solo parts in Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana, Fauré’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Bach’s St John Passion and St Mathew Passion and in Martinů’s The Opening of the Springs. He has performed in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland, England, The Netherlands, Japan, South Korea and the USA. He has worked with renowned conductors (Leopold Hager, Pierre Boulez, Asher Fish, Jiří Kout, Jiří Bělohlávek, Enrico Dovico, Hilary Griffiths, Ondrej Lenárd, etc.) and stage directors (Giancarlo del Monaco, Patrice Chéreau, Johannes Felsenstein, Jozef Bednárik). He has appeared at Prague Spring, Smetana’s Litomyšl, Bratislava Music Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Holland Festival, Festival Aix-en-Provence, etc. In 2005, within the Opera festival he received an award for the best performance in a supporting role (the Miller in Novák’s Lantern). Since 2006 he has taught solo singing at the Academy of Music in Prague.