An opera singer with an impressively long and distinguished career, Cheryl Barker has sung some of the key roles in the repertoire, perhaps most famously playing Mimi in Baz Luhrmann’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème, her incredible performances of Tosca, and creating the role of Sarah Miles in Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair, in Houston. She and her husband, baritone Peter Coleman-Wright will be joining the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs under artistic director Brett Weymark for Glorious Puccini in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House on October 29.

In this conversation, Cheryl speaks about her love of Puccini, shares some wonderful tales from her impressive career, and fills us in about Pacific Opera, the emerging artists program for young opera singers of which she is co-artist director along with Peter Coleman-Wright.