[1] She received a thorough musical education (piano and violin) at the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona, before turning to vocal studies with Francisco Bonet.

She made her debut at the Teatro Novedades in Barcelona, as Ines in L'Africaine, on March 10, 1898, aged only 15, quickly followed by the role of Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots.

She was immediately invited to all the major opera houses of Europe, singing in Italy, Germany, England, France, Ukraine (Odesa) to great acclaim.

Barrientos made her Metropolitan Opera debut on January 31, 1916, in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor with Giovanni Martinelli as Edgardo, Pasquale Amato as Enrico, and Gaetano Bavagnoli conducting.

She notably portrayed The Queen of Shemakha in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel for the opera's United States premiere on March 6, 1918.