Jerome Barry, baritone, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His beauty of tone, humor, pathos and sense of the dramatic earned him the accolade "a rare phenomenon" from Lukas Foss. The Baltimore Sun hailed a performance saying: "... interpreted with refinement and sensitivity by Mr. Barry, his phrasing marked by ease and gracefulness, tone quality warm and burnished ... communicating a sense of joy-- Triumphant!"
Barry's versatility includes a wide knowledge of languages, as he speaks nine, and can sing in twenty-eight. While earning a B.A. from NortheasternUniversity in modern languages and a M.A. from TuftsUniversity in languages and literature, he studied concurrently at Boston Conservatory and the Boston University School of Fine and Applied Arts. In Europe he attained a diploma from the Goethe Institut in Germany, and later went to Italy to attend the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music in Rome, Italy. He studied with the renowned Luigi Ricci, Romeo Arduini and Paolo Silveri, as well as Gérard Souzay and Pierre Bernac in Paris. His career took him next to Israel where he sang more than 300 concerts, including recitals, oratorio, opera and orchestral concerts. He sang with the Israel National Opera, Israel Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Festival.
Upon his return to the United States, he continued his career giving recitals in many prestigious concert halls, singing with the Boston Pops, the Baltimore and National Symphonies and many other orchestras and opera houses. In addition, his recital career has spanned the United States and fifteendifferent countries. His performance credits also include Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Helsinki Festival. His recording credits include CBS Records, Premier Recordings, Inc., and recordings of the National Radio and Television Stations of numerous countries.
His exceptional knowledge of many languages and performance and eclectic repertoire have gained him much prestige and recognition, including Who's Who in American Music, Who's Who in International Music,Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians and many others. Mr. Barry is the only classical singer chosen to be a Bösendorfer artist, an honor bestowed upon Mstislav Rostopovich, Frank Sinatra, Chick Corea and others.
He has given master classes all over the world, is a laureate of the McClosky Institute of Voice and has been on the faculties of TelAvivUniversity, NortheasternUniversity, TuftsUniversity, the University of Maryland, and AmericanUniversity. He founded the Embassy Series in 1994 and has been its Director since then. He also received a outstanding service from the President of Austria.