女高音，1948年11月20日出生于美国阿肯色州史蒂芬斯，在亚斯本音乐学校师从托瑞尔(Jennie Tourel)，1969年到1972年进入纽约茱丽亚音乐院并以音乐学士毕业，期间曾参加过卡拉斯的大师班。1976年在旧金山歌剧院演出蒙台威尔第的《波碧亚的加冕》是她第一次踏上歌剧舞台，而两年后在柏林以《费加洛的婚礼》中饰演的苏珊娜获得个人的国际性成功，逐渐地韩翠克丝成为最耀眼的声乐名家之一。韩翠克丝不仅是当今最著名的三大黑人女高音之一，同时拥有“来自天堂的声音”的美誉。 1978年，卡拉扬在录制威尔第歌剧《唐卡洛》之时，其中有一个小段咏叹调是从天上传来的救赎声音，大师找到一位出道没多久的年轻女高音来演唱，由于卡拉扬的赏识，从此芭芭拉·韩翠克丝（Barbara Hendricks）便拥有「来自天堂的声音」的美誉，一直到现年将近五十岁的她，声音依旧如同是天上清音般吸引著世人。 出生于美国阿肯色州、有著娃娃脸的韩翠克丝不仅是当今最著名的三大黑人女高音之一，同时也可以说是世界顶尖的声乐名家。当然她不像芭托或是洁西·诺曼那样在舞台上光芒四射，但是她的艺术特质却更为不凡，就像她所得到的数学与化学学士一般，在韩翠克丝那清澄透彻的声音里，总是传达出理性思维与感性情绪的融合音质。一九七二年她又在纽约茱莉亚音乐学院以音乐学士毕业，一九七六年在旧金山歌剧院演出蒙台威尔第的《波碧亚的加冕》是她第一次踏上歌剧舞台，而两年后在柏林以《费加洛的婚礼》中的苏珊娜获得个人的国际性成功，逐渐地韩翠克丝成为当代最耀眼的声乐家之一。 韩翠克丝靠的便是极端纤细敏锐的音色，让她拥有最典型的抒情女高音风格，再加上那充满灵性的诠释手法与技巧，于是在歌剧领域当中，尤其是德奥曲目里像苏珊娜、帕蜜娜、苏菲（《玫瑰骑士》）等这类必须用声音来细腻刻画的角色，韩翠克丝的表现始终令人叹服不已。从她灌录的第一张录音（一九七五年由马捷尔指挥的盖希文歌剧《乞丐与荡妇》当中的克拉拉）开始，尽管她的戏码选择没有特别的焦点，却因为严谨与精致的演唱，即使是不同风格的歌剧演出也都鲜有失败之作。不过她在歌剧以外的音乐领域却更为亮眼，韩翠克丝为EMI灌录的黑人灵歌专辑就是一张值得珍藏的录音，而她的宗教音乐、艺术歌曲、爵士乐甚至通俗音乐等不同领域的成绩，几乎都是备受乐迷的好评。 而看看韩翠克丝所获得的推崇也是令人相当咋舌，包括一九八六年获得法国政府颁发的「艺术与文学统御者」的荣誉，她是有史以来最年轻的受奖者。一九八七年因为她的人道精神而成为联合国国际难民组织的亲善大使，在各大学也获得无数的荣誉博士学位，九三年她受邀在美国克林顿总统的就职典礼演唱等等，这些成就，不仅显示韩翠克丝是一位优异的声乐家，更展现她身为一位真正艺术家的风范。 Barbara Hendricks was born in Arkansas, USA and received her musical training and her Bachelor of Music at the Juilliard School of Music in New York where she studied with mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel. Earlier, she had completed her studies at the University of Nebraska receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Chemistry at the age of 20. She made her American and European operatic debuts in 1974 at the San Francisco Opera and at the Glyndebourne Festival and went on to appear at all major opera houses throughout the world, including the Paris Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden and La Scala. Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro was her debut role in Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg and Munich, as well as the role she sang in the last performances that the late Karl Böhm conducted of this opera. Barbara Hendricks has more than 20 roles in her active opera repertoire, 12 of which she has already recorded. They range from Mozart (Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Ilia in Idomeneo) to French classics (Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffman, Micaela in Bizet's Carmen, Massenet's Manon and Gounod's Juliette, Debussy's Mélisande), and the Italian masterpieces (Liù in Turandot and Gilda in Rigoletto). She sang 'Liu' in the historical premiere performance of Turandot, given in the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1998, conducted by Zubin Mehta and directed by Zhang Yimou. In March 2000 she added Tatiana in Eugene Oneguin at the Nice Opera with Vladimir Chernov. She made her film debut as Mimi in La Bohème, directed by Luigi Comencini. In 1994 she participated in an international prize-winning film production of The Rake's Progress singing Anne Truelove, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. She was a member of the jury at the International Film Festival in Cannes 1999, presided by David Cronenberg. Since her 1974 New York Town Hall debut, Barbara Hendricks has been acclaimed as one of the leading and most active recitalists of her generation and in addition to her vast repertoire of German Lieder she is also known as a leading interpreter and staunch promoter of French, American and Scandinavian music. The pianists with whom she has performed and recorded include Dmitri Alexeev, Michel Béroff, Yefim Bronfman, Michel Dalberto, Youri Egorov, Ralf Gothoni, Radu Lupu, Maria Joao Pires, Roland Pöntinen, Staffan Scheja, Andras Schiff and Peter Serkin. Because of her love for chamber music, she regularly participates and also organises chamber music festivals with friends who share her passion. Barbara Hendricks has performed her extensive orchestral repertoire with all of the leading conductors and orchestras of our time. She is one of today's best-selling recording artists and has made nearly 80 recordings with conductors such as Barenboim, Bernstein, Davis, Dorati, Giulini, Haitink, Karajan, Maazel, Mehta, Sawallisch and Solti. She made her jazz debut at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1994 and has since then performed regularly in renowned jazz festivals throughout the world with the Magnus Lindgren Quartet. Barbara Hendricks has toured Japan with von Karajan (1977), Bernstein (1985), with the Vienna State Opera (1986) and the Hamburg Opera (1996). In addition to her busy concert and opera schedule in Europe and in the United States, she alternates every other year with extensive tours to the Far East or Latin America and performs regularly at international music festivals worldwide. In 1974, she sang the American premiere of Gilbert Amy's Un Espace Déployé with the Chicago Symphony and Sir Georg Solti, who invited her back for the world premiere of the American Bicentennial Commission of David Del Tredici's Final Alice, which she subsequently performed with the Boston, Philadelphia and Cleveland Symphonies, and the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. She sang the American premiere of the 'Dies Irae' of Penderecki in 1976 with the Los Angeles Philarmonic and Zubin Mehta. She gave the world premiere of Tobias Picker's The Rain in the Trees with Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1996; as a special guest of Lord Menuhin, she premiered works by five internationally known composers, dedicated to Lord Menuhin for his 80th Birthday Celebration at the closing concert of the Lincoln Center Music Festival; and in 1997, the world premiere in Japan, of songs by young Japanese composer Mari Takano. In 2000 she performed Sven-David Sandström's Mölna Elegy commissioned for her by the Gotland Chamber Festival. She performed in 2002 the world premiere of Bruno Mantovani’s Das erschaft der Dichter nicht commissioned for her by the Ensemble Intercontemporain of Paris. In 2004 she premiered Arvo Pärt’s l’Abbé Agathon for eight cellos commissioned for her by the Festival L’Ensembles de Violoncelles in France. At the end of 2004 she will sing the part of The Angel in the world premiere of Peter Eötvös’s opera, “Angel” based on the Tony Kushner play “Angels in America” at the Châtelet Theatre, Paris.