"This performance, combining impressive vocal clarity, power and stamina alongside theatrical persuasiveness, opens a new horizon of possibilities in the darker dramatic roles and was as compelling as anything she has done, right up to the lurid A-sharps of her consummating kiss."

Peter McCallum / Sydney Morning Herald / 15 October 2012

"Heading a uniformly strong cast is soprano Cheryl Barker, who offers a magnificent performance as Salome. Conveying her character's intense sexuality, her acting assuredly moves between capricious petulance, manipulative coquettishness and unhinged erotic obsession."

Murray Black / The Australian / 15 October 2012

"As Mariette, Cheryl Barker had the combination of strength and warmth that has become her hallmark. In the first act, the warmth manifested itself as a generous vibrato, but she sang the climactic aria of the final act with all the dramatic focus and power demanded by the 19th-century operatic musical tradition on which Korngold draws."

Peter McCallum / Sydney Morning Herald / 2 July 2012

"Soprano Cheryl Barker plays the dual roles of Marie and Mariette. Her richly coloured timbre and energetic portrayal capture the latter's beguiling nature while her pure-toned intensity make a haunting impact as Marie."

Murray Black / The Australian / 2 July 2012

"You can’t have a great Tosca without a great Tosca, and renowned Australian soprano Cheryl Barker turns in a fine rendering of the title role in Opera Queensland’s final mainstage presentation for the year. 

Since her launch as Mimi in Baz Lurhmann’s landmark La Bohème back in the 1990s, Barker has built an impressive international career, boasting engagements with such blue-chip houses as the Paris Opéra and London’s Covent Garden. On Saturday, a first night Brisbane audience had the opportunity to sample her talents in what is probably the ultimate diva role in the repertoire.

Perhaps most impressive was the comparatively subtle shading that Barker brought to a character usually associated with histrionics. The Tosca we were offered was no harpy. Rather she was a strong-willed, affectionate, impulsive woman caught in a particularly nasty nexus of political and sexual intrigue. Barker’s portrayal demonstrated ample stagecraft, especially the intensity of her stillnesses in the second act, as the heroine mentally grapples with her choices. The voice impressed with its power and variety of colourings employed, including choices to speak rather than sing some phrases for dramatic effect. Above all, Barker’s sensitive musical phrasing was in evidence in the celebrated aria Vissi d’Arte, sung as the heroine finds herself about to become the victim of what is in effect a contractual rape. The last note was heaved into a despairing groan of protest, a moving touch."

Samesame.com.au / 17 October 2011