Barbara Daniels

Barbara Daniels (born May 7, 1946) is an American operatic soprano.

Born in Newark, Ohio, Daniels studied music at the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music; among her roles there was Diana in the American premiere of Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto in April 1972, to the Giove of Tom Fox. Her professional debut came the following year with West Palm Beach Opera, where she sang Susanna in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. From 1974 until 1976 she was on the roster of the Tyrolean State Theatre, singing such roles with the company as Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte and the title role of Verdi's La traviata.

In earlier years, Daniels possessed a lyric voice, and her repertory encompassed such parts as Adèle in Rossini's Le comte Ory, the title roles in Handel's Agrippina and Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Mimì in La bohème, the title role in Smetana's The Bartered Bride, and Marguerite in Gounod's Faust. Later in her career her voice became more powerful and dramatic; in 1991 she performed Minnie in Puccini's La fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera, a role which has come to be seen as her finest portrayal, and she added the title roles in Puccini's Tosca and Manon Lescaut, and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss to her repertoire. She continued her career into the 1990s with roles such as Nedda in Leoncavallo's I pagliacci and Senta in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer.