Australian born Cheryl Barker studied in Melbourne with Dame Joan Hammond and in London with David Harper, and pursues an active opera and concert career. In Australia, she appears regularly with Opera Australia, where her roles have included Nedda (Pagliacci), the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Mimì (La Bohème), Violetta  (La traviata), Donna Elvira  (Don Giovanni), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), all three soprano roles in Il trittico, Desdemona (Otello) and the title roles in Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Jenufa, Rusalka and Arabella. She has also sung with Victoria State Opera, Opera Queensland and New Zealand Opera.

Internationally, Cheryl Barker is particularly noted for her performances of Madama Butterfly, singing this role for English National Opera, De Vlaamse Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Paris Opera, Deutsche Oper, Berlin and most recently for The Netherlands Opera. Her other international appearances include Jenifer (A Midsummer Marriage) for The Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Tatyana and Adina (L’elisir d’amore) for Scottish Opera; Oksana (Christmas Eve), Foreign Princess (Rusalka), both the Governess and Miss Jessel (The Turn of the Screw), Musetta (La bohème), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for English National Opera; the title role in Maria Stuarda for ReisOper; Violetta for Hamburg State Opera and the Deutsche Oper; and the title role in Suor Angelica and Liù (Turandot) for De Vlaamse Opera.

She appears regularly on the recital and concert platform and her many recordings for Chandos include Dyson’s Quo Vadis, and as part of the Opera in English series, Emilia Marty (The Makropulos Case), and the title roles in Madama Butterfly, Katya Kabanova and Rusalka.

Her recent engagements include the title role in Manon Lescaut for Opera Australia, Giorgetta and Suor Angelica (Il trittico), Tosca, Salome and Emilia Marty for English National Opera, Emilia Marty for Netherlands Opera, Mimì and Desdemona (Otello) for De Vlaamse Opera, the title role in Katya Kabanova in Geneva and for Welsh National Opera, Sarah in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair and Madama Butterfly for Houston Grand Opera.