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The American soprano, Shannon Barry Beckemeyer, obtained her Bachlor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from DePauw University (Class of 2017); and her her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Class of 2020), where she studied with Mary Ann Hart (since 2019). In addition to her vocal studies, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry at DePauw University (Class of 2017). She has won 1st place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition in the Indiana state competition for the past four years (2014-2017). She competed in the semifinal round of the Mondavi Center National Young Artists Competition in Detroit, Michigan in 2018. In 2015, she was a Finalist in the Tri-State Vocal Competition and a National Semifinalist at the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition. In 2015, she placed 1st at NATS Regional for the Great Lakes and advanced as a National Semifinalist among Lower College Women. In 2013, she was named a Grand Prize Finalist in the Music Center Spotlight Awards, culminating in a performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. As part of the prize, she was awarded a fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival where she studied with W. Stephen Smith (2014). In the summer of 2017, she went to SongFest where she worked with Martin Katz, Sanford Sylvan, Roberta Alexander, Libby Larsen, Kayo Iwama, Alan Louis Smith, John Musto, and Jake Heggie, and Suzanne Mentzer.
Shannon Barry has interests spanning historical performance, vocology, and choral singing in addition to her roles on the operatic and concert stage. Most recently, she has performed in three J.S. Bach cantatas as a concentist (2019-2022) and François Couperin's Leçons de ténèbres (2022). She has sang two productions of Contessa in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with DePauw Opera (Indiana, 2018) and Aquilon Music Festival (Oregon, 2018). Some other appearances include Jo in Little Women (DePauw Opera, 2016), coached by composer Mark Adamo, the title character in George Frideric Handel's Rodelinda (Halifax Summer Opera, Canada, 2016), Anna Murrant in Street Scene (DePauw Opera, 2017), and Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea (DePauw Opera, 2015). In concert she has sang the soprano soli in Benjamin Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia (2016).
As a chorister singing J.S. Bach, Shannon Barry has worked professionally with conductors Helmuth Rilling, Kathy Saltzman Romey, Christopher Caruso-Lynch, Michael Boney, Michelle Louer, and John Harbison, also singing with ensembles such as the Columbus (Indiana) Philharmonic Chorus, Christ Church Cathedral (Indiana), St. Andrew’s Episcopal (Pittsburgh) Schola Cantorum, Second Presbyterian Church Beecher Singers (Indiana) and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Indianapolis. She has also sang at venues such as the Thomaskirche (Leipzig), Georgenkirche (Eisenach), Stadtkirche (Weimar) Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, and La Madeleine (Paris) in concert.
Shannon Barry has taught voice lessons for the past six years to local students and is involved with Reimagining Opera for Kids (ROK) in Bloomington, Indiana. She married the tenor Blake Beckemeyer on June 22, 2018. |
