AUGUST 29, 2022
Remembering the life of Scott Barnes, Award Winning Director, Opera News writer and a dear friend of the Giulio Gari Foundation and Gloria.
Born on May 30, 1954, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he also grew up, Mr. Barnes was a musical theater enthusiast who was also familiar with the full repertoire of soprano opera.
After graduating from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1976 with a BFA, Mr. Barnes went on to perform in theaters across the country, including those both on and off-Broadway as well as featured in numerous television commercials and print advertisements between 1977 and 1990.
One of the most sought-after directors in the New York Cabaret scene, winning two MAC Awards for Best Director. He directed, managed and publicized the late legendary cabaret singers Nancy LaMott and Marianne Challis and also produced and/or released 26 CDs for numerous New York cabaret artists.
As a writer, Mr. Barnes wrote dozens of feature films for Opera News, including cover stories and reviews, as well as opinion pieces on opera playing, English diction for American singers, and his most unforgettable opera performances.
In the summer of 2015, Mr. Barnes was a faculty member at Aprile Millo’s Opera Vision Academy in Italy. In July 2017, he joined the faculty of Michael Paul’s Academia Lirica Internazionale d’Ischia, also in Italy. And, in recent seasons, it has judged many of the top opera singing competitions, including Gerda Lissner, Puccini Foundation, Giulio Gari, Veronica Dunne (NYC and Wexford), AVA’s Giargiari, Loren L. Zachary Society, and Opera at Floriham.
As an advisor to Actors’ Equity from 1988 to 1999, Mr. Barnes was a founding member of the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Board of Directors until his death. Mr. Barnes also served on the board of the Gerda Lissner Foundation.
Mr Barnes was married to writer Brian Kellow, who died in 2018, and he was also predeceased by his parents, Dr Robert Barnes and his wife Jean Barnes, and older brother Bobby.
You will always be in our hearts.
Scott Barnes
Dramatic Coach
Scott Barnes graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music as the musical theater kid who knew all the soprano operatic rep. (When he was a freshman, Kathleen Battle, Barbara Daniels, and Deborah Polaski were doctoral students.) Scott went on to perform on and off Broadway and around the country, sang on six of the Disney animated films (including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas), starred in scores of television commercials between 1977 and 1990.
Scott is a two-time winner of the MAC award for NYC cabaret director of the year (five nominations), and has created acts for Bette Midler, Kathie Lee Gifford, Rita Moreno, Alix Korey and many other wonderful singers. He has produced and/or artistic-directed twenty-six CDs, and for four glorious years directed, managed, and publicized the late, legendary cabaret singer Nancy LaMott.
During the last fourteen years, Scott has written dozens of features for Opera News, including eleven cover articles, reviews, and opinion pieces on operatic acting, English diction for American singers, and his most unforgettable operatic performance.After years in “showbiz”, (and years teaching master classes in song interpretation and audition strategies for Broadway-bound performers) Scott has found his unique ability to help opera singers strategize for (and enjoy) auditions, and to broaden their actors’ imaginations (through the Sanford Meisner acting method) to better inhabit songs, arias, and roles. He is enough of a “vocal vocabulary junkie” to work with just about any vocal technique, having taught audition and interpretation master classes at home and abroad, and team- taught with singing actress supreme Lauren Flanigan. In the summer of 2015, he was a faculty member for Aprile Millo’s OperaVision Academy in Italy. In the summer of 2019, Scott joined the faculty of Michael Paul’s Accademia Lirica Internazionale d’Ischia in Italy. He plans to return in 2021.
For the past several seasons, Scott has judged several of opera’s top singing competitions, including the Gerda Lissner, Puccini Foundation, Giulio Gari, Veronica Dunne (NYC and Wexford prelims), AVA’s Giargiari, Loren L. Zachary Society, and Opera at Florham. Scott loves and respects singers (and those who love them).