Megan Moore, Mezzo-Soprano - Matinée Musicale Cincinnati

Megan Moore, Lyric Coloratura Mezzo-Soprano

Francesco Barfoed, Piano

Sunday, October 12, 2025

3 pm

Memorial Hall, OTR

An artist of versatility and depth!

A native of Cincinnati, Megan Moore is quickly garnering attention in the repertoire of Rossini, Handel, and Mozart. Awards include first prize at George London Foundation Competition, Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, Zenith Opera Competition, National Society of Arts & Letters Voice Award, and the Copenhagen Lied Duo Competition (with Francesco Barfoed).

She has performed in numerous operas internationally, singing many title roles—including her Boston Baroque debut of Handel’s Ariodante. Other notable roles include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with San Diego Opera; debuting the role of Sesto in Handel’s Julius Caesar at Opera Theater of Saint Louis.

VIDEOS

During the 2025-26 season, mezzo-soprano Megan Moore makes her company and role debut as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier at New Orleans Opera. She reunites with the American Modern Opera Company to revive Matt Aucoin’s Music for New Bodies with staging by Peter Sellars at the Meany Center in Seattle, Washington. It marks the West Coast premiere of the piece, which Ms. Moore also recorded for upcoming release. Ms. Moore returns to Opera Philadelphia to perform The Seasons, based on Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, with choreography by Pam Tanowitz, direction by Zack Winokur, and Corrado Rovaris conducting. Joining forces once again with pianist Francesco Barfoed, the duo will give a recital for Matineé Musicale in Cincinnati, Ohio, and record an album of Danish songs by Rued Langgaard for upcoming release.

Ms. Moore makes her debut at the Spoleto Festival in June 2026. Last season, Ms. Moore made her Boston Baroque debut in the title role of Handel’s Ariodante with music director Martin Pearlman on the podium. She made her South American debut at Municipal de Santiago in Rossini’s Stabat Mater led by Evelino Pidò. She joined Matt Aucion and Peter Sellars for performances of Music for New Bodies with the American Opera Company at both David Geffan Hall and Tanglewood Music Festival.

In addition to recitals in New York and Copenhagen with pianist Francesco Barfoed, the pair was presented by the George & Nora London Foundation for Singers in a program featuring a world-premiere song cycle by Jake Heggie. Megan also returned to the roster of the Metropolitan Opera to cover both Jess in Jeanine Tesori’s new opera Grounded directed by Michael Mayer and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as well as Rosina in Bartlett Sher’s madcap production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia under the baton of Giacomo Sagripanti. She made her debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York City singing works of Freya Waley-Cohen, Matthew Aucoin, and Henry Purcell.

Other recent engagements include Seattle Opera as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia; San Diego Opera as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni; Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Sesto in Handel’s Julius Caesar after previously singing the role of Dorabella in Così fan tutte for her company debut; touring with Les Musiciens du Louvre in France and Spain in performances of Die Fledermaus covering the role of Orlofsky and singing Ida; The Orchestra Now in Berlioz' Les nuits d'été at the Fisher Center at Bard; Seattle Symphony in Tan Dun’s Buddha Passion with the composer on the podium with additional performances in Modena, Italy, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; the title role in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice with Orchestra of the Triangle; Handel’s La Lucretia and Il delirio amoroso with The English Concert and Harry Bicket; and her Metropolitan Opera debut in Brett Dean’s Hamlet under the baton of Nicholas Carter.

Francesco Barfoed, Piano

Francesco Barfoed is hailed as a pianist with “fertile imagination” (New York Classical) and “silky movements across the keys” (Seen and Heard International).

Originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, Barfoed performs in the United States and Europe with singers and instrumentalists alike. In 2025 he appeared in Carnegie Hall for the Gerda Lissner Foundation Winners Concert, premiered CROSSING BORDERS, a new song cycle by award-winning composer Jake Heggie, and performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and The Morgan Library and Museum.

His playing, described as “simply marvelous, from first note to last” (Oberon’s Grove), has been heard at Carnegie Hall’s Citywide series, NYFOS, Caramoor, Opera Saratoga, Berkshire Opera Festival, as well as the Cosmos Club in D.C., Folly Theater in Kansas City, Usedomer Musikfestival in Germany, and on WQXR (New York’s Classical Music Radio Station). Barfoed also partners with principal string players of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and returned to Texas in June 2025 for their chamber music series.

Barfoed has taken home competition prizes, including 1st prize in the Copenhagen Lied-Duo Competition 2021, 2nd prize at the Naumberg Foundation International Vocal Competition with Megan Moore, and played first-prize winning performances with singers for Young Concert Artists. He works extensively in opera and has assisted Juilliard with numerous productions, including co-arranging and performing Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress for two pianos. He has been on the coaching faculty at Saluzzo Opera Academy in Italy and Canto Vocal Programs in Virginia and was a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. In 2025, he will be serving on the jury for the Gerda Lissner Art Song Competition in New York City.

Barfoed is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Juilliard School, where he also completed his master’s degree. He holds degrees from The Royal Danish Academy of Music and Rutgers University and has completed additional training at SongFest and Carnegie Hall’s SongStudio. The topic of his doctoral dissertation is on Danish composer Rued Langgaard and his songs, and he specializes in coaching singers in the Danish language.