Tenor René Barbera has been increasingly visible in the U.S. and Europe since winning the 2008 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and becoming the first-ever singer to sweep the top prizes at the Operalia Competition in 2011. While his repertoire takes in a range of music, he has specialized in the music of Verdi, Rossini, and Donizetti. Barbera's recording debut came on a 2015 release, on which he performed the Canciones de Lorca of William Bolcom. Barbera returned in 2021, earning rave reviews for a recording of Donizetti's mostly forgotten opera Il Paria. Barbera has also been active on the concert stage, performing Rossini's Stabat Mater with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under Gustavo Gimeno; a recording of the latter appeared in 2022. That year, Barbera was also heard opposite soprano Lisette Oropesa on a recording of Verdi's La traviata.