THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Flora E. Barry

Flora E. Barry (1880, 1886)

[Born Paris, Maine 19 Sep 1836, died Boston, Massachusetts 3 Nov 1926]

Mrs. Flora Elizabeth Barry (nee Harlow) used her married name throughout her professional career despite having divorced Mr. Barry in 1873. Her first appearances before the public were with the Mendelssohn Quintette Club and the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston in 1863. She enjoyed great popularity in concerts, oratorio and opera throughout the 1870s.

Mrs. Barry made her D'Oyly Carte debut in September 1880 as Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance on tour with a D'Oyly Carte American Pirates Company. She did not complete the tour. By the time the Company reached Chicago in January 1881, the role had been taken by Mme. (Adelina) Motte. Miss Barry had earlier appeared as Little Buttercup in at least two of the many American pirate versions of H.M.S. Pinafore, in Chicago (Hooley's Theatre, January 1879) and New York (Madison Square Theatre, June 1879). She was Lady Sangazure in The Sorcerer on tour with the Saville English Opera Company (November 1879), and played Inez in Burnand & Sullivan's The Contrabandista in Boston (Oakland Grarden, July 1880). Afterwards she toured with H. B. Mahn's Comic Opera Company as the Lady Angela in Patience (1882).

Mrs. Barry was later engaged by D'Oyly Carte to succeed Rosa Cooke as Katisha with D'Oyly Carte's Second American Mikado Company at the Hollis Street Theatre in Boston on January 25, 1886. She held that role through March when the run ended.

After leaving the operatic stage, Mrs. Barry devoted her life to vocal teaching. Her birthday concerts with her students, once she turned 80, were covered regularly by The Boston Globe.

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