Barrientos Maria, *10 March 1884 Barcelona, †8 August 1946 Ciboure (near Saint-Jean-de-Luz), Spanish singer (coloratura soprano). She studied at the conservatory in Barcelona, then undertook studies with F. Bonet. In 1898, she made her debut in Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine at the Teatro Novedades in Barcelona. From 1899, she performed on various opera stages in Europe and South America; between 1916 and 1920, she was a soloist at the Metropolitan Opera House. She delighted audiences with her crystal-clear voice and phenomenal technique. Her performances in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Bellini’s La sonnambula, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Pasquale, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel, Verdi’s Rigoletto and La traviata went down in history. In the 1920s, Barrientos lived in France, where she also became famous for her renditions of songs by contemporary French composers.
