SFCM Announces Center for Innovative Leadership
As The New York Times writes, SFCM has “emphasized risk-taking and an expansive view of the field.” Deeply committed to cultivating a sense of entrepreneurial spirit among its student body, SFCM will now expand its culture of exploration with rapid-fire programs designed to empower arts professionals.
November 12, 2019
Ute and William K. Bowes Center for Performing Arts
As The New York Times writes, San Francisco Conservatory of Music has “emphasized risk-taking and an expansive view of the field.” Deeply committed to cultivating a sense of entrepreneurial spirit among its student body, SFCM will now expand its culture of exploration with rapid-fire programs designed to empower arts professionals. The SFCM Center for Innovative Leadership will welcome its first cohort in January 2021 to the new Ute and William K. Bowes, Jr. Center for Performing Arts, a comprehensive arts hub created through a transformative $46.4 million gift in 2018.
“SFCM is built on an expansive and inclusive vision for the future,” said President David H. Stull. “To make that vision a reality, the industry needs committed and energetic arts leaders with the tools to lead their institutions toward artistic and fiscal growth. The Center for Innovative Leadership will contribute major resources and top-tier faculty and mentors to enhance the talent pipeline for arts administration.”
Arts administrators, ranging from entry-level professionals to C-suite executives and board chairs, will be welcomed to SFCM’s learning lab to expand their sense of opportunity and capacity for action. Stull expects this wellspring of creativity will inspire undergraduate and graduate students as well — with the option to audit these professional courses, students curious about arts administration will be able to immerse themselves in subjects far beyond the standard music curriculum.
The center will be led by its Founding Executive Director and SFCM Vice President of Strategic Communications, a role created for Aubrey Bergauer. Recognized by the San Francisco Chronicle as a “dynamic and innovative administrator,” Bergauer is an orchestra executive and management consultant with a proven ability to find creative solutions for arts institutions. Her data-driven approach as Executive Director of the California Symphony catapulted the orchestra onto the national stage, as it was strategically transitioned from a near-closure ensemble to “the most forward-looking music organization around,” per the San Jose Mercury News. In her five-year tenure, California Symphony doubled its audience, nearly quadrupled its donor base, and increased its operating budget by 50%, all while balancing budgets and eliminating a portion of past accumulated debt.
“As I established my consultancy, it quickly became clear that the demand for innovative and evidence-based executive guidance existed on a large scale,” said Bergauer. “When David offered me an opportunity to partner with him and assemble a team to address field-wide issues with SFCM’s substantial resources, I knew this was an undeniable chance to make an impact beyond the organizations I’m able to personally advise. By focusing our energies on developing executive leadership and good governance, we can influence the state of the industry in a more widely distributed way.”
Aubrey Bergauer / Photo by The Morrisons
In keeping with Bergauer’s trademark data-driven approach, the Center for Innovative Leadership will track progress toward industry-wide goals, such as diversifying the administrative talent pipeline. Internally, both recruitment and curriculum will champion equity and inclusion. Faculty and advisory board members will be cultivated across genders and ethnicities, and progress toward increasing diverse representation among industry leadership will be measured to ensure accountability. Bergauer’s own appointment hints at the type of administrator SFCM hopes to nurture.
“Aubrey is emblematic of everything we’re trying to achieve here,” said Stull. “From running regional orchestras to advising powerhouses like LA Opera and NPR, her ability to deftly move from big-picture ideation to decisive action has captured the attention of the industry. Our profession needs more leaders like her: activators who are able to conceive bold ideas and inspire stakeholders to bring those ideas to fruition. Under her direction, SFCM hopes to foster a new breed of change-makers who will drive our industry forward.”
The Center for Innovative Leadership will be nestled among the concert halls, classrooms, conference facilities, and guest suites of the Bowes Center, which opens in fall 2020. Curricular models will be designed to address the needs of multiple administrative constituencies. In June 2021, aspiring arts managers will enroll in the center’s flagship offering: Project ADAM (Audience Development and Advancement of Music) Seminar for Early Career Professionals, which will inform and empower rising leaders at the entry point to the talent pipeline. A series of alternating Level-Up Workshops will take place each January, with a cohort of first-time executive directors convening in January 2021, and a group of revenue-generating professionals in fundraising and marketing roles meeting the following year. In September 2021, orchestra and opera board leaders will have the opportunity to learn from distinguished board heads — and each other — in the Board Chair Forum.
“Conservatories typically instruct students with a single-minded focus on winning a job at a top orchestra or opera company,” said Bergauer. “SFCM is expanding that field of vision, creating options not only for its students, but for the entire arts management pipeline. By addressing every facet of industry training, SFCM and the Center for Innovative Leadership will ensure that the quality and preparation offstage matches the talent onstage.”
For those following SFCM’s trajectory since Stull began as president in 2013, this bold expansion of the conservatory’s offerings is a logical progression. SFCM has created an inclusive culture that reflects the cooperative experimentation of the Bay Area’s tech hotbed, making it a natural fit for a center that will encourage creative exploration and cultural intelligence.
“We want to attract diverse and inventive participants who have the intellectual capacity to be high-performing leaders and empower them to execute bold ideas,” said Stull. “The SFCM Center for Innovative Leadership will be a home for pioneers, shaping savvy leaders who are collaborative, curious, and comfortable setting — then breaking — new paces for the industry.”
OPERA America Kicks off Nationwide Celebration
The organization will commemorate a half-century of opera’s progress with a variety of initiatives, including an Opera Hall of Fame, Oral History Project, and a series of national events. It will also rally members of the opera industry to participate in a national promotional campaign, #meetopera, to inspire curiosity in the art form.
October 24, 2019
““I am very optimistic about opera in America. When I entered the industry decades ago, new American operas were rarely commissioned or performed. Today, the flow of creativity from American composers, librettists, directors and designers has generated an American opera repertoire that spans the gamut of styles and subject matter.””
Industry leaders cut the ribbon at the OPERA America 50th Anniversary announcement
The wellspring of creative talent in the United States over the past 50 years has been fostered by OPERA America, the national champion for opera in America, which has provided financial support, mentorship and connections between thousands of companies and artists. Founded in 1970 as a collaborative agency by mid-sized opera companies, OPERA America now comprises 500 professional companies, conservatories, training programs and other related businesses, as well as nearly 2,000 individual artists, administrators, trustees and operagoers. Its impact extends internationally in scope: OPERA America provided the model for the development of Opera Europa, Ópera Latinoamérica and Opera.ca in Canada, which approaches its 20th anniversary next year.
On the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 2020, OPERA America will embark on a yearlong celebration of 50 years of opera in America. The organization will commemorate a half-century of opera’s progress with a variety of initiatives, including an Opera Hall of Fame, Oral History Project and series of national events. It will also rally members of the opera industry to participate in a national promotional campaign, #meetopera, to inspire curiosity in the art form.
“Between 1970 and 2020, opera has moved from being an imported, historic European art form to a dynamic, contemporary American cultural expression that resonates with the world in which we live,” says Scorca. “We see this anniversary year as an opportunity to celebrate this astonishing narrative of creativity, determination and growth — and a chance to demonstrate our commitment to continue moving opera forward.”
#meetopera
On January 6, 2020, OPERA America will launch a nationally coordinated, locally implemented promotional campaign designed to shift the public perception of opera. Developed with cohorts of field members, the #meetopera campaign invites arts enthusiasts and other potential operagoers to see opera as the vibrant and progressive art form that it is today. It is about showcasing the breadth of opera, the diversity of the people who make it and enjoy it, and the many ways it can be experienced.
“This is a ‘yes, and’ campaign,” says Timothy O’Leary, general director of Washington National Opera and board chair of OPERA America. “Opera is grand and intimate. It takes place in historic opera houses and local bars. It is in Italian, French, German and English, Spanish and Mandarin. It offers a special night on the town and a casual evening with friends.”
OPERA America introduced the campaign to the public on October 18, when performing luminaries such as Jamie Barton, Angel Blue, Ailyn Pérez and Morris Robinson joined inspiring creators like Paola Prestini, Kamala Sankaram and Mark Campbell in announcing their participation in the campaign via social media. These industry icons are part of a cohort of 50th Anniversary Ambassadors recruited to extend the reach of the #meetopera campaign and support OPERA America throughout its 50th anniversary initiatives.
Countless opera companies and artists also participated in the October 18 announcement by sharing the #meetopera campaign video, a highlight reel of footage contributed by companies across the nation, showcasing the variety of looks, styles and scales of opera in America.
Anniversary Initiatives
Opera Hall of Fame
OPERA America will honor leaders in the opera field in an Opera Hall of Fame. Building on the legacy of the NEA Opera Honors, produced by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with OPERA America from 2008 to 2012, this new initiative will recognize nine living American artists, administrators or advocates in its first year. These individuals, and those added in subsequent years, will serve to inspire the next generation of industry leaders. The first round of nominations is now open through January 15, 2020, at operaamerica.org/HallofFame.
Oral History Project
The shared stories of opera in America will be captured in an Oral History Project. OPERA America will gather interviews with at least 50 industry veterans who have helped advance the art form and the industry over the last five decades. A partnership with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and supported by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, the project will make audio recordings and transcriptions available to the public via a new OPERA America website launching in 2020 and at the library at Lincoln Center.
Opera America Magazine
Six quarterly issues of Opera America Magazine will be dedicated to tracing the art form’s trajectory since the organization’s establishment. These special editions will focus on various aspects of the industry, including the proliferation of opera companies, the development of new work, the establishment of an artist-training infrastructure and the evolution of the opera business model. Each retrospective feature will be paired with statements from the Anniversary Ambassadors and field leaders that envision the next half-century of opera.
Public Events
Beginning in November 2019, OPERA America will hit the road to co-present public events with each of its 16 founding companies. These events, sponsored by Bank of America, will localize the national narrative and provide each company with an opportunity to celebrate its own contributions to the progress of the art form and industry.
The tour begins November 1 with an event honoring Opera Omaha’s notable accomplishments in civic practice, artistic development and gender parity. On December 3, it highlights New Orleans Opera, the 100th anniversary of the burning of the city’s French Opera House and the city’s rich history of presenting opera since the 18th century. On December 10, an event in San Diego will salute the important role San Diego Opera has played in developing and premiering Spanish-language operas.
In 2020, founding city events will continue in Charlotte, Houston, Kansas City, Louisville, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Saratoga Springs, Seattle, Tulsa and Washington, D.C. In addition, special celebrations will commemorate 75 years of Mississippi Opera in Jackson and 100 years of Cincinnati Opera in Ohio.
Industry Events
OPERA America will engage artists, administrators and trustees in the industry in an additional series of anniversary events in 2020.
New Works Forum
The New Works Forum will take place January 16–19 in New York City. With sessions at OPERA America’s National Opera Center and performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and PROTOTYPE Festival, this convening will be the largest gathering of producers and artists in the country. Past New Works Forums have incubated dozens of important new projects, collaborations and productions, including JFK (Little/Vavrek) and Silent Night (Puts/Campbell).
National Trustee Forum
The National Trustee Forum will bring together opera company board members from March 18–20 in Washington, D.C., a founding city where OPERA America was headquartered for many years. Discussions will focus on the importance of good governance and strong boards to the health of the field, and the forum will also include performances at Washington National Opera and visits to legislative offices on Capitol Hill to advocate for public policies on the arts.
50th Annual Opera Conference
In May, OPERA America will return to the city of its first conference in 1970: Seattle. The 50th annual Opera Conference, hosted by Seattle Opera, will take place May 13–16 and will include panels, performances and a 50th anniversary party with the announcement of Opera Hall of Fame inductees.
In February 2021, a concluding event in New York City will recognize donors and others who have made significant contributions to the anniversary campaign.
New Programs Announced
OPERA America’s commitment to developing new works, advancing gender parity, increasing racial and ethnic diversity, and nurturing the next generation of leaders will be supported by the 2020 Vision Campaign. This 50th anniversary fundraising effort will build OPERA America’s ongoing capacity to serve a growing field, maintain the National Opera Center, and enhance programming for artistic initiatives and leadership development.
On October 18, Scorca announced two new programs made possible by early gifts to the 2020 Vision Campaign that support the creation of American operas:
IDEA Opera Residences
IDEA Opera Residencies (denoting Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access) are three-year grants, funded by the Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund of the Scherman Foundation, to support the creative and professional development of New York City-based composers and librettists of color. By providing direct grants, mentorship and career support to artists entering the field, the program aims to break down systemic barriers faced by artists of color and foster pathways for new voices to the opera stage.
The Next Stage
OPERA America will re-introduce The Next Stage, a granting program that supports second and subsequent productions. This initiative, supported in its pilot year by Gene Kaufman and Terry Eder, is intended to encourage companies to program American works that have already premiered and are worthy of more performances in new productions.
“The opportunity to hear new works again is essential to expanding the active repertoire and increasing recognition and programming of the North American canon,” says Scorca. “Over the past 30 years, OPERA America has granted over $15 million to companies in support of new work, and we now have an American repertoire that has earned the admiration of the global opera community.”
Milestones
As The New York Times noted, OPERA America and its National Opera Center “play a crucial role in the operatic biosphere.” OPERA America’s focus on identifying and nurturing talent, particularly among women and people of color, has helped usher in a sea change for the industry.
Opera Grants for Female Composers
OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program has now contributed over $1 million to support creators like Ellen Reid, Du Yun and Laura Kaminsky. Funded by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation since 2014, grants have been awarded to 45 women to advance their work and to 30 companies in support of their commissions of female composers. These projects have in turn helped increase contemporary themes on stage, with operas exploring issues of today.
Leadership Intensive
The alumni of OPERA America’s leadership development programs, including its signature Leadership Intensive supported by the American Express Foundation, now hold 10 percent of executive leadership positions at member companies across the nation. Launched in 2012 to identify and encourage the field’s most promising opera administrators, the program has had a profound impact in promoting women to top positions, with alumni including Peggy Kriha Dye, general and artistic director of Opera Columbus; Lee Anne Myslewski, vice president of Wolf Trap Opera; Barbara Lynne Jamison, general director of Kentucky Opera; Ashley Magnus, general director of Chicago Opera Theater; and Jennifer Rivera, executive director and CEO of Long Beach Opera.
“The Leadership Intensive program was an invaluable resource in my career development,” says Annie Burridge, who completed the program in 2012 and now serves as general director and CEO of Austin Opera. “Years later, I am still making use of the knowledge and connections it provided.”
Innovation Grants
OPERA America invests $1.5 million each year in Innovation Grants to support bold ideas, new projects and important research that promise to improve artistic and administrative practices. The program has now been extended for a second time thanks to renewed funding from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Past grants have supported The Glimmerglass Festival’s Breaking Glass podcast on the intersection of music and social justice and Opera Philadelphia’s transition to its inaugural fall festival.
Orchestra Maverick Aubrey Bergauer Goes Solo
“Aubrey Bergauer is the dynamic and innovative administrator whose five-year tenure as executive director of the California Symphony in Walnut Creek helped revitalize the orchestra’s audience base and bottom line…” The data-driven leader will launch a consultancy intended to replicate her game-changing strategies across a broad range of arts organizations.
June 26, 2019
Photo by The Morrisons
Credited by Southwest Magazine with “redefining the classical concert experience as we know it,” departing Executive Director Aubrey Bergauer has catapulted the California Symphony onto the national stage. Outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to San Francisco Chronicle, Symphony Magazine, and NPR have turned their attention to Walnut Creek and the industry-leading efforts of the California Symphony team. The orchestra, which had been contemplating closure before Bergauer came aboard, has experienced a remarkable turn of fortunes during her five-year tenure.
That change in the bottom line is due to the deliberate and adventuresome partnership between Bergauer, Music Director Donato Cabrera, and Symphony Board President Bill Armstrong, who have collectively embraced a data-driven mission. Taking a cue from neighboring tech hotbeds, this approach has focused on user experience research, iterative design, and perhaps most daringly, transparency with audiences and the public. In an industry with a tendency to bemoan the state of audience attendance and demographics, California Symphony has punched through with actual solutions.
“As a person on a mission to change the narrative for orchestras, I have been exceedingly lucky to be able to partner with Donato and Bill, along with our fantastic staff and board,” said Bergauer. “Fueled by our dogmatic focus on patron retention, the California Symphony is now nationally known for a concert experience that welcomes newcomers and loyalists alike. I’m confident I am leaving the organization in a position of strength.”
Hailed as “the most forward-looking music organization around” by the San Jose Mercury News, the symphony’s accomplishments over the past few years read like an orchestra board’s wish list:
• doubled the audience, increasing annual tickets sold by 97%
• achieved a first-time audience retention rate triple the industry average
• increased subscribers by 42%, with 19/20 subscriptions tracking up 21% year over year
• grew donor households by 180%
• more than doubled the number of performances offered per year
• increased operating budget by 50%
• expanded performances beyond Walnut Creek to Napa Valley, Concord, Oakland, and Berkeley
• balanced or surplus budgets in 4 of 5 years, while eliminating a portion of past accumulated debt
• secured $1 million gift for endowment, the largest in the orchestra’s history
In a recent profile, the San Francisco Chronicle described Bergauer as “a quick-talking dynamo [who] bristles with statistics, ideas, and sharp new perspectives on the challenges facing symphony orchestras in the 21st century.” Indeed, California Symphony has been at the forefront of many industry trends, spearheading initiatives that inspire other orchestras to follow suit:
• first professional orchestra to make a public commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion across staff and board members, in addition to musicians and programming
• committed to 20% of programming by women, people of color, living composers (vs. 2% nationwide average)
• achieved 46% programming by women, POC, and living composers in upcoming 19/20 season
• first orchestra to collaborate with the band Postmodern Jukebox
• created “Symphony Surround” benefit, placing audience members among the orchestra
• moved to anonymous review process (inspired by blind auditions) for acclaimed Young American Composer-in-Residence program, which led to selection of current resident composer Katherine Balch
• 50% increase in Latinx audiences, driven by bilingual education and advertising
Music Director Donato Cabrera noted, “Aubrey’s groundbreaking leadership has transformed the California Symphony, dramatically increasing our audience through enriching concert experiences of inclusive and diverse programming. Our work to honor Aubrey’s legacy here will continue to set the standard of how an orchestra can be an integral, meaningful, and contemporary facet of our cultural landscape.”
Board President Bill Armstrong agreed, “As much as we’d love to keep Aubrey, we understand that change-makers thrive on new challenges, and we are grateful for the extraordinary growth we’ve experienced under her leadership. She has made an indelible impact on the California Symphony, and I’m confident she will have great success as she brings her expertise to a broader array of arts organizations.”
Bergauer began devising strategies in the realms of audience development, revenue generation, and the creation of inclusive cultures over a decade of work at Seattle cultural institutions, including the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, and the Bumbershoot Festival. The California Symphony’s openness to collaborative experimentation proved the ideal incubator for these approaches, including Bergauer’s signature Long Haul Method, which will now be shared with an array of arts institutions via consultancy.
“What we’ve done at California Symphony is extraordinary,” said Bergauer. “It is also replicable. Nothing is limited to this market or this community, and the proof of concept has been authenticated. I’m looking forward to deploying the strategies tested here to empower arts organizations from a variety of regions and budgets. While I certainly intend to return to running an orchestra one day, I’m eager to make an impact beyond one organization in this critical moment for our industry.”
Bergauer’s tenure concludes on August 15; the California Symphony’s 2019/20 season will open on September 14 with an “Iconic Beethoven” program. The wide-ranging season will also include Lyric for Strings by George Walker, the first African-American composer to win a Pulitzer Prize, a flute concerto by Kevin Puts, the commissioned world premiere of Katherine Balch’s Cantata for Orchestra and 3 Voices, and a Gabriela Lena Frank vocal work that imagines Frida Kahlo returning from the dead during the Día de los Muertos festival. The recruitment and selection committee for the new executive director has been formed, and the search is underway.
Verismo Joins Opera in 21st Century at Banff
Verismo Founder Beth Stewart joins Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Opera in the 21st Century program as guest faculty this week.
June 20, 2019
Verismo Communications founder Beth Stewart serves as guest faculty this week at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where the Opera in the 21st Century residency is challenging the conventions of opera performance, production, and design.
The stellar faculty, led by Banff Opera Artistic Director Joel Ivany, is comprised of Against the Grain artists and other internationally recognized professionals from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines.
Emerging artists are developing concurrent new works from Paola Prestini & Royce Vavrek and Nicole Lizée. Their work with Beth will include overviews of public relations, media, personal branding, arts entrepreneurship, and arts activism.
Verismo Founder Speaks at Opera Conference 2019
Beth Stewart joined San Francisco Chronicle critic Joshua Kosman, Opera Philadelphia VP of Marketing & Communications Frank Luzi, and composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh in a panel discussion on the state of media and promotion in 2019.
June 14, 2019
Verismo Communications founder Beth Stewart spoke on the “Media in 2019” panel at the Opera America Conference in San Francisco, California, alongside San Francisco Chronicle critic Joshua Kosman, Opera Philadelphia VP of Marketing & Communications Frank Luzi, and composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh.
Moderated by Boston Lyric Opera’s Jeila Irdmusa, the panel addressed shifts in traditional and digital media coverage in the arts and entertainment market. Panelists shared perspectives on self-promotion, the role of start-up outlets and social influencers, and other DIY media strategies.
The Opera Conference attracts more than 700 attendees, including opera company general directors, staff members, trustees and volunteers, as well as artists and other industry professionals. Each year, Opera America partners with a host opera company in a different city to offer nearly 100 events over five days. The conference offers inspiring general plenary sessions, informative breakout sessions, exciting performances, and abundant networking opportunities.
Verismo Founder & Clients Featured in 'Instagram Moments' Story
“Instagram allows access for everyone, which is really important in a field that has traditionally been elitist. I believe very much that the future of opera is inclusivity, and Instagram provides a platform for that.” Star mezzo Jamie Barton, conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya, and Verismo founder Beth Stewart are all featured in the Spring 2019 issue of Opera America Magazine.
April 15, 2019
Verismo founder Beth Stewart and mezzo Jamie Barton are quoted in Opera America Magazine’s Spring 2019 issue. The “Instagram Moments” story examines the social platform’s dynamic possibilities for classical music, and also features images from the feed of conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya.
Peter Konwitschny Production of La Juive, Starring Corinne Winters, Now Streaming Online
“Nothing could have prepared me for the focused intensity of Winters’ performance as Rachel…” Opera Vlaanderen’s recent run of Halévy’s La Juive is now available to view online via OperaVision.
April 6, 2019
Photo by Annemie Augustijns
The Peter Konwitschny production of Halévy’s La Juive, which recently concluded its run at Opera Vlaanderen starring soprano Corinne Winters, is now available to view via OperaVision until October 5, 2019.
Read reviews:
”Winters made a magnificent role debut as Rachel, the burnished, purple shades of her lower register gorgeous in the romance “Il va venir.” Her confrontation with Léopold, when he confesses that he is not “Samuel”, but a Christian – sizzled with disbelief and scorn across the pit…”
Bachtrack
“Nothing could have prepared me for the focused intensity of Winters’ performance as Rachel, and the remarkable strength and evenness of her middle and lower registers; the way she sang the whole role with a feeling of intensely projected line. This Rachel felt things deeply and conveyed it through the music. Konwitschny asked a lot of his Rachel, she turned suicide bomber in Act Three, but Winters certainly delivered and did so with the music, not despite it.”
Planet Hugill
“The voice of soprano Corinne Winters goes through marrow and bone… [This is] an intimate performance that crawls under the skin and asks questions about the present.”
NRC Handelsblad
“With her grand, dramatic sound, Corinne Winters shows what potential is in her voice, but also in her acting. It is Konwitschny’s style to step outside the frame of the stage, which feels uncomfortable because you are so directly addressed as an audience. But there was so much power and conviction in Winters' acting that this scene felt logical.”
Place de l’Opera
“Corinne Winters, in her role debut, delivers a powerful performance based on an unerring and penetrating timbre that is a little dark and very personal. Her aria ‘Il va venir’ is undeniably one of the evening’s high points.”
Ôlyrix
“The American Corinne Winters, in her role debut as Rachel has a wonderfully good sense of drama and timing… Winters‘ contribution is intimate, human, touchable.”
de Volkskrant
'Gutsy, Political, and Hypnotising' Ayre Launches Against the Grain Records
“Miriam Khalil’s performance on this album shows her to be more than a singer: she is an elemental force.” Against the Grain Records releases a stunning new recording of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre by a soprano native to many of the cultural threads.
December 7, 2018
Against The Grain Theatre, Toronto's visionary chamber opera company, is known for electric performances that act as "a bracing wake-up call to the spirit" (The Globe and Mail). That daring candor is now being channeled via its new in-house recording label, which launches today with a live recording of Osvaldo Golijov's "ecstatically beautiful...radical and disorienting" song cycle Ayre (The New Yorker).
Ayre blends traditional and electronic instruments with elements of Byzantine chant, Sephardic lullabies, Sardinian protest songs, and Arabic, Hebrew, and Christian texts. Praised by Gramophone as "an intoxicating, endlessly haunting mixture of styles and musical cultures," the technically exacting song cycle has become a signature piece for AtG Founding Member Miriam Khalil.
According to Against the Grain Founder and Artistic Director Joel Ivany, the preservation of such transformative works was a major motivator in the establishment of the theatre's in-house label. "At AtG, we have made it our mandate to create fresh and daring experiences for our audiences – and with this new facet of our work, we're now able to capture and share moments of our acclaimed limited production runs."
"Against the Grain is thrilled to be able to share the immediacy and emotion of this live performance, recorded at the breathtaking Ismaili Center in Toronto, with a broader audience," he said. "Ayre is an extraordinary and unforgettable adventure."
Hear the album >
Praise for Miriam Khalil’s performance:
“The fluidity on display in Khalil’s smallest ornaments is also apparent on the largest scale in her approach to the entire work. Ayre’s eclectic sources can feel blocky in their juxtapositions, like buildings from different eras of a city thrown up with no compromise or eye to overall aesthetic cohesion. In Khalil’s rendition, the impression is more of a lived-in landscape, one where tree and grass and hill and oasis have melded together into an intricate network, no one part fully extricable from any of the others. In this way, she makes Ayre feel like a piece for our time…”
–National Sawdust Log
“Khalil's 2016 performances in Toronto - which make up Ayre Live - offer an energy and understanding that make hers a new definitive interpretation of the work.”
–Schmopera
“Titled after the Old Spanish word for “song,” Ayre is so relentless in its storytelling that it’s almost exhausting – another emotional wave we can surely ride alongside Khalil, who sings the challenging work with her whole body. Few singers have the stamina or the stylistic palette that Khalil employs throughout Ayre, and it’s even more impressive when one remembers this is a live recording.”
–The Globe and Mail
“Miriam Khalil’s performance on this album shows her to be more than a singer: she is an elemental force. There are no missteps here as each song is performed with dramatic depth, a nuanced understanding of the range of emotions and tones required by poetry and music.”
–Opera Wire
“Khalil, who speaks fluent Arabic and even grew up singing some of the songs Golijov chose, performs this cycle with a personal understanding that makes this recording a mature iteration of the work. As an opera singer, Khalil spends her voice generously in Golijov’s stretchy, hovering soprano lines. And unlike an opera singer, she sets few limits on how she uses her instrument. She begins the cycle with a sound that’s close to a Western classical voice, one that could translate into a recital of songs by Debussy or Schubert; but over Golijov’s expansive arc, she moves her voice into the technically risky sound worlds of chest voice and nasal production. As the styles intertwine, it’s astonishingly organic to hear her womanly, spinning vibrato hover over an electronic beat that is totally danceable.”
–The Globe and Mail
Praise for Against the Grain Records:
“The album is a bold way for Against the Grain to inaugurate its status as a record label. Ayre is not opera, and it's perhaps not even representative of what AtG has become most widely known for - namely, its 21st-century-spun "transladaptations" of traditional operas by Mozart and Puccini. Yet for the launching of Against the Grain Records, to lead with Ayre is to lead with a strong message of putting art and diversity first – without compromising on quality.”
–Schmopera
“With Ayre Live, Against the Grain Theatre has christened its new record label with a piece that evades definition, a game in which artistic director Joel Ivany excels. The recording is a nod to the opera collective’s roots, with its spotlight on founding member Khalil, but more importantly, it’s something that will make it into my daily playlist. It’s too bold for background music, too tough to forget after even just one listen.”
–The Globe and Mail
“Toronto-based chamber opera company Against the Grain Theater has launched a new record label. I can’t think of better start to such a venture than this recording of Osvaldo Golijov’s song cycle, “Ayre.” The work captures some of the company’s central ideals: beauty, relevance, and innovation.”
–Opera Wire
Yankovskaya and Winters Are December Artists of The Month
Musical America describes Yankovskaya as “friendly and fearsomely articulate" while the New York Festival of Song interviews Winters on self-care, favorite rep, and mentoring with Turn The Spotlight.
December 3, 2018
Photos by Kate Lemmon and Fay Fox
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya and soprano Corinne Winters are each “Artist of the Month” honorees for December.
Musical America describes Yankovskaya as “friendly and fearsomely articulate" while the New York Festival of Song interviews Winters on self-care, favorite rep, and mentoring with Turn The Spotlight.
Christopher Allen Offers 'Artistic Salvation' in Ne Quittez Pas
“Pianist Christopher Allen proved a thrilling collaborator, finding orchestral colors in his virtuosic playing.” Conductor Christopher Allen returned to his first love, the piano, to partner Patricia Racette in his Opera Philadelphia debut.
September 30, 2018
Photos by Dominic M. Mercier
““At equal partnership with Racette is Music Director and Pianist, Christopher Allen. His playing of Poulenc’s writing is superb. From the first tones of Poulenc’s Intermezzo No. 3 to the final sounds of the opera, each and every note was played with such clarity, command, and tenderness, that the audience is left unaware of the immense difficulty of the music.””
Christopher Allen has made a critically acclaimed Opera Philadelphia debut, in an unusually multi-faceted role as music director, pianist, and actor for Ne Quittez Pas. The program, a re-imagining of Poulenc’s La voix humaine for Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O18, starred Patricia Racette in a production by James Darrah.
Read reviews:
“Voix Humaine is heard here accompanied by an excellent solo pianist, Christopher Allen… To their credit, though, the performers (including pianist Allen, who deserves some kind of MVP award) commit fully to Darrah’s vision.”
Parterre Box
“Pianist Christopher Allen had a wonderful feel for Poulenc's alternating sweetness and acid, and I often wished Darrah had granted both him and Nelson the simple visual quiet of a small white spotlight.”
Philadelphia Inquirer
“Yet in the hands of Racette and her gifted accompanist, Christopher Allen, I never came close to cringing. The production uses a piano reduction in place of full orchestra, which Allen dispatches with real feeling for Poulenc’s melodious writing…”
Broad Street Review
“[Racette’s] partner in music-making, pianist Christopher Allen proved a thrilling collaborator, finding orchestral colors in his virtuosic playing.”
Opera Today
“I'd say that more is less, except for the elegant piano performances by Music Director Christopher Allen, which I found quite pleasing.”
Broadway World
“…Poulenc songs with the impeccable collaboration of pianist/music director Christopher Allen, creating a hauntingly penetrating sound in the cavernous cabaret. This romp through music, poetry, and devilish insanity…made the first act of Ne Quittez Pas into a revelatory vehicle for the musical talents of Christopher Allen and Edward Nelson. The second half is the actual Jean Cocteau play, La voix humaine… Christopher Allen did a masterful job with the score.”
Philly Life & Culture
“There’s nobility, too, in the soprano Patricia Racette’s…masterly performance, and Christopher Allen’s responsive piano collaboration…”
The New York Times
“The piano accompaniment, performed by Christopher Allen…made its pain especially intimate.”
Wall Street Journal
“Music Director and pianist Christopher Allen offered artistic salvation from beginning to end, including his rendition of Poulenc’s Intermezzo no. 3 during the opening scene…”
Bachtrack
“…Christopher Allen’s ability to hold it all together despite whatever was transpiring on stage, all the while playing magnificently.”
Seen and Heard International
Kicking off The 2018/19 Season
This season will take Verismo artists to stages and orchestra pits around the world, including those of the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Philadelphia, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
September 5, 2018
The 2018/19 season will take Verismo artists – including the opera singers, conductor, and string quartet highlighted below – from Istanbul and Amsterdam to New York and London, as they make important role and house debuts and renew connections with favorite collaborators.
Jamie Barton, Mezzo
Sara in Roberto Devereux
San Francisco Opera
September 8-27, 2018
*role debut
Azucena in Il trovatore
Bayerische Staatsoper
October 7-17, 2018
Mezzo Soloist in Verdi Requiem
Royal Opera House Covent Garden
October 23, 2018
Azucena in Il trovatore
Lyric Opera of Chicago
November 17-December 9, 2018
Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking
Atlanta Opera
February 2-10, 2019
*role debut
Fricka in Das Rheingold
Metropolitan Opera
March 9-May 6, 2019
Recital with Kathleen Kelly
Renée Fleming VOICES
Kennedy Center
March 23, 2019
Fricka in Die Walküre
Metropolitan Opera
March 25-May 7, 2019
*March 30 simulcast in cinemas via Met Live in HD
Jezibaba in Rusalka
San Francisco Opera
June 16-28, 2019
Photo by Stacey Bode
Photo by Gabriel Gastelum
Christopher Allen, Conductor
Ne Quittez Pas
Opera Philadelphia
September 22-30, 2018
Candide
New England Conservatory
October 23-24, 2018
The Barber of Seville
Michigan Opera Theatre
November 10-18, 2018
Bel Canto Trio
70th Anniversary Tour
November-December 2018
Recital with Joshua Guerrero
December 2018
An American Original
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
January 10-12, 2019
Rising Stars Concert
Lyric Opera of Chicago
April 2019
The Marriage of Figaro
Opera Theatre of St. Louis
May 25-June 29, 2019
Corinne Winters, Soprano
Soprano Soloist in Verdi Requiem
Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra
2018 European Tour
September 16 – Wroclaw, Poland
September 18 – London, UK
September 20 – Pisa, Italy
October 30 – Lucerne, Switzerland
November 1 – Vienna, Austria
November 2 – Budapest, Hungary
November 4 – Munich, Germany
November 5 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg
November 7 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tatiana in Eugene Onegin
Michigan Opera Theatre
October 13-21, 2018
Soloist in Bachianas Brasileiras
True Concord | TDSF
January 18-20, 2019
Rachel in La Juive
Opera Vlaanderen
March 10-April 6, 2019
*role debut
Soloist in Les nuits d'été
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra
April 11, 2019
Soloist in García Lorca: Muse and Magician
New York Festival of Song
April 24, 2019
Photo by Fay Fox
Photo by Fay Fox
Russell Thomas, Tenor
Roberto in Roberto Devereux
San Francisco Opera
September 8-27, 2018
*role debut
Manrico in Il trovatore
Bayerische Staatsoper
October 7-17, 2018
Manrico in Il trovatore
Lyric Opera of Chicago
November 17-December 9, 2018
Tenor Soloist in Das Lied von der Erde
Dallas Symphony
January 10-13, 2019
Tito in La clemenza di Tito
Los Angeles Opera
March 2-24, 2019
Otello in Otello
Canadian Opera Company
April 27-May 26, 2019
*staged role debut
Otello in Otello
Deutsche Oper Berlin
June 8-20, 2019
Fry Street Quartet
As One
Album Recording
September 10-13, 2018
The Crossroads Project: Rising Tide
Indiana University Cinema
October 4, 2018
Bartok String Quartets: Complete Cycle
Utah State University
November 6-8, 2018
Earthbound
NOVA Chamber Music Series
January 20, 2019
FSQ @ USU Series
February 5, 2019
FSQ @ USU Series
March 5, 2019
The Crossroads Project: Rising Tide
Shepherd University
April 17, 2019
The Crossroads Project: Rising Tide
Longwood Gardens
April 18, 2019
Photo by Andrew McAllister
Barton on The Big Screen
“It’s hard to find adjectives superlative enough to describe her voice: huge and sumptuous, but with such broad possibilities of color that the singer can chill the blood with just a glint of steel in the tone. Lurching, heaving and writhing nonstop, she looked as if she might any moment explode out of sheer malevolence.” New York City audiences have another chance to experience Jamie Barton’s Jezibaba at the Met’s Summer HD Festival, and audiences around the world can see her Fricka in cinemas in 2018/19.
July 23, 2018
Photo by Ken Howard
Mezzo Jamie Barton's "magnificent," "malevolent," "mezzo force-of-nature" Jezibaba will writhe across the big screen at the Metropolitan Opera's Summer HD Festival at Lincoln Center, where 3,000 lucky audience members can see "one of the sexiest performances of the season" in Dvorak's Rusalka. Details via the Metropolitan Opera.
In the 2018/19 season, Barton will appear as Fricka in the Met's production of Die Walküre, to be simulcast in cinemas in more than 70 countries worldwide via the Met's Live in HD. Tickets now on sale; details available via the Metropolitan Opera.
Read more Rusalka reviews:
“What makes this show bearable, if not indeed indispensable, is the presence of the magnificent mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Jezibaba. It’s hard to find adjectives superlative enough to describe her voice: huge and sumptuous, but with such broad possibilities of color that the singer can chill the blood with just a glint of steel in the tone. Though I didn’t care for the jokey take on the character Zimmerman imposed on her, I was flabbergasted at how passionately Barton threw herself into the performance. Lurching, heaving and writhing nonstop, she looked as if she might any moment explode out of sheer malevolence. If everyone involved in this Rusalka were operating at Barton’s level, the Met would have its biggest hit of the decade. As it is, the company might be better off condensing the opera to a single hour-long act called Hello, Jezibaba!”
New York Observer
“The real marvel of the cast was Jamie Barton, who was absolutely sensational as the sorceress Jezibaba. Her voice was a wonder in itself, a full, shady mezzo with harrowing power, and fierce fire in her chest. Of everyone in the cast, she had the most success in navigating the cartoonish aesthetic of the production, hamming it up just enough to embrace the comic elements of the role, but never forgetting its essential darkness. Barton brings tremendous presence to the stage, coupled here with a specific and deliciously wicked vocal characterization.”
New York Classical Review
"The production had a windfall in American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as the witch Jezibaba; Barton’s charisma and vocal power produced one of the sexiest performances of the season. As the surprise erotic center of the production, Barton’s dominance of the stage (and obvious pleasure in that dominance) was absolute. Barton’s massive mezzo erupts like a foghorn at unexpected moments; at other times it slides sinuously around Dvořák’s curvaceous folk melodies. In the potion scene, “Čury mury fuk” (abracadabra), Barton punctuates her movements like a dancer, putting meaning into each self-satisfied flick of a finger... At the conclusion of this ingeniously choreographed scene, Barton coquettishly pulls a pair of goggles down over her eyes, her lips curling in sensuous satisfaction. The change from Zajick’s performances as Jezibaba in the Schenk Rusalka was enormous."
City Journal
"Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton was mesmerizing as Jezibaba, throwing herself physically into the role and singing with matchless power and control. Costumed as a Victorian granny, she was required to perform the role with a toothy sneering grin, exaggerated by her goth-like dark lipstick, but nothing deterred her. She has become one of the great treasures of our era."
Classical Voice North America
"Barton can steal the show just by opening those velvet tonsils of her and letting the sumptuous sounds and array of colors burst forth. And she did. I'd listen to Barton anytime--oh, that velour!"
Broadway World Opera
"As Jezibaba, Jamie Barton, in a wonderful spiderweb dress, blended comedy and cruelty, her pungent mezzo taking on a fierce brightness."
Wall Street Journal
“Barton is a lot of fun here. Her low mezzo is irresistibly rich and colorful, epic in size and effortless. (I’ve seen a lot of Rusalkas and hence a lot of Jezibabas and she is the best by a large margin.) She also shows real comic flair in a villain mode.”
Likely Impossibilities
"As a gruesomely witty Jezibaba, Jamie Barton’s sensational dark mezzo showed much Wagnerian promise."
Gay City News
"Jamie Barton devoured the lusty-nasty-witchy flailings of Jezibaba."
Financial Times
"Jamie Barton was an excellent fit for the role of the witch Jezibaba. Her big scenes in Act I and III were powerfully sung, drowning out the little mermaid with her rich pliant instrument. She had enough gas for the big finish in Act III, leaving the audience stunned."
Paper Blog
“Jamie Barton, a recent winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, is a delightfully campy villain as the witch Jezibaba. Her meaty mezzo is wonderfully deployed, especially during the transformation set piece, in which Zimmerman likens Rusalka’s metamorphosis to a surgical intervention. The only drawback is the role’s brevity in a rather long evening, leaving the audience craving more of Barton’s superlative work.”
Parterre Box
“Barton, a mezzo from Georgia who is becoming a Met mainstay, is wickedly devious as Jezibaba.”
Huffington Post
“Jamie Barton gobbled the lusty-nasty-witchy flailings of Ježibaba.”
Financial Times
"Barton was electric as Jezibaba. Her take on the character was a “Satan-lite,” if you will, the character a fun-loving yet conniving villain. Her main interactions in the opera are with the tragic heroine, the witch getting to control the dynamics of the scenes throughout. Barton relished these moments, letting her gigantic instrument run wild throughout the massive halls of the Met. Her diction was delicious as she twisted every consonant or set of mixed consonants to fill out the portrait of a seemingly evil character that was simply having a ton of fun. Her phrasing had an aggressive quality, especially as she preyed on Rusalka to sign the contract, a literally selling of the soul to the devil. Her demeanor was darker in the final act, the sound more lethal in its accented brutality (though no less beautiful to listen to) and her glare dangerous."
Opera Wire
"Jamie Barton was a vocal standout as Jezibaba, her rich and deep chest voice a special and memorable treat."
Bachtrack
“The real find in this cast is American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton who, in both voice and temperament, creates an over-the-top witch, complete with cobalt-blue contact lenses and spider-web dress.”
TheaterByte
“American mezzo-soprano force-of-nature Jamie Barton (Jezibaba), launches her magnificently voluptuous voice and blasts a wicked, maniacal cackle to blood-curdling effect.”
Blasting News
“Jamie Barton, the lavish, demonically-dressed Jezibaba, played the joy of wickedness with almost glittering eyes.”
Der Neue Merker
“Jamie Barton’s Jezibaba was a clever and very entertaining witch. The young mezzo-soprano from Rome – Georgia! – is moving to stardom most rapidly.”
Riverstown Patch
“The witch Jezibaba is mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, who exudes charm and wit as the sorceress who combines all kinds of ingredients in her steaming well.”
Bitácora
“Jamie Barton sang opulently as the witch Jezibaba.”
Opera Magazine
“Jamie Barton, who created a truly original witch Jezibaba, deserves a special mention. Barton’s Jezibaba was cruel, amusing, perverse, and – above all – charismatic. The caricatured gestures which accompanied her impeccable vocal performance earned her a well-deserved place among the great witches of opera and – why not? – of cartoon.”
Música en México
“Jamie Barton as Jezibaba was gloriously demented as the wily witch. She gets to play some delicious comedy and sings with such skill, you feel like she is really capable of casting spells with sound.”
NY Theatre Guide
"The most adventurous touch was...the witch Jezibaba, brought to vivid, scene-stealing life by the protean talents of mezzo Jamie Barton [and] Barton's wickedly funny conquests of her scenes..."
Opera News
"Jamie Barton’s devilish Jezibaba was the highlight. Surrounded by half-human/half-animal henchmen, Barton brought such electric charisma that it was hard not to find affection for the wily sorceress."
Classical Source
"The extraordinary Jamie Barton is the vocal star of this production and outshines even Eric Owens, just as she outshone Plácido Domingo in the Met’s Nabucco this winter. Barton and her critters are terrifying: Her cackle froze the auditorium’s giblets."
New Republic
“As the crusty witch Jezibaba, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton dug into her lower range with some dramatically appropriate guttural effects, but more than her predecessor Dolora Zajick, maintained grace and musicality no matter how nasty her sentiments.”
Operavore
Jorge Mejia's Musical Memoir Featured in Billboard Magazine
"Success for Mejía…has come easy, in part, because he can relate. Mejía is a musician himself, a pianist-composer who is known for connecting on a visceral and musical level with his songwriters.” Billboard Magazine talks with Jorge Mejia about bridging worlds, genres, and cultures.
June 29, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia talked with Billboard Magazine about An Open Book: A Memoir in Music.
"Success for Mejía -- who also has deals with "Despacito" co-writers Erika Ender and Daddy Yankee, and signed Colombian superstar Maluma to a global publishing deal in 2017 -- has come easy, in part, because he can relate. Mejía is a musician himself, a pianist-composer with a performance degree from the University of Miami who is known for connecting on a visceral and musical level with his songwriters.
Now, Mejía is further exploring his own talents. In May, he released An Open Book: A Memoir in Music, a book and album of short classical piano pieces with orchestral accompaniment that tell his own story as a bicultural, bilingual artist. The Open Book Latin American Tour, which Mejía narrates and performs, has included performances in Ecuador and Uruguay. Here, Mejía speaks about his music, Fonsi's success and betting on the Latin market."
Two Verismo Artists Profiled in Musical America
Over the past decade, Musical America has had an incredible knack for featuring "New Artists of the Month" who go on to big things. This month's follow-up on 25 of these still-rising stars includes conductor Christopher Allen and soprano Corinne Winters.
June 26, 2018
Photos by Gabriel Gastelum and Fay Fox
““Every month for nearly ten years, Musical America has featured a New Artist on our home page: someone with a special talent that, for the most part, hasn’t yet been ‘discovered’... We were right, as we were with all of the 25 we check on in this issue.””
Musical America followed up with conductor Christopher Allen, who was originally profiled as "New Artist of the Month" in July 2015 and "seems to be everywhere these days," and soprano Corinne Winters, profiled in January 2012, for whom "Violetta has become such an integral part of [her] operatic trajectory."
Jamie Barton's Fricka Has 'Vocal Balls of Steel'
“Wheedling, cajoling, commanding, she can play the kitten, gently twitting her husband’s nose, but in this relationship it is she who is determined to wear the palazzo pants. The voice is still creamy, but when the top notes fly, the audience are pinned to their seats.” Jamie Barton sings her first complete Ring cycle at San Francisco Opera.
June 18, 2018
Photo by Cory Weaver
““Jamie Barton, singing so beautifully in Das Rheingold, proves she has vocal balls of steel as well, delivering a Fricka of power and considerable subtlety. 1930s-Wotan may have moved on, but she has absolutely no intention of letting morals slide. Wheedling, cajoling commanding, she can play the kitten, gently twitting her husband’s nose, but in this relationship it is she who is determined to wear the palazzo pants. The voice is still creamy, but when the top notes fly, the audience are pinned to their seats. For a woman who seems the up-and-coming bel canto mezzo of the moment, she’s one hell of a versatile singer.””
Mezzo Jamie Barton sings her first complete Ring cycle, as Fricka in Wagner's Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, and as Waltraute and 2nd Norn in Götterdämmerung, alongside a starry cast led by Donald Runnicles at San Francisco Opera. Three cycles play through July 2, with tickets available via SFO.
Read more reviews:
"Barton brought verve and tonal warmth to the role of Fricka, Wotan’s strong-willed, though often sensitive, wife."
SF Examiner
“A stentorian yet humane performance."
San Francisco Chronicle
"Softening the usually harsh edges on Fricka (Mrs. Wotan), Barton gave sympathetic insight and gorgeous voice to a difficult character."
Bay Area Reporter
“I would not want to anger Jamie Barton’s fierce Fricka…”
Bachtrack
“More vocal honours are due to…Jamie Barton’s sumptuous Fricka, blessed with razor-sharp diction and an instinctive way with the words. Barton’s appealing performance makes the Queen of the Gods into a preternaturally dim society matron – the kind that used to harry poor old Groucho Marx… With her flexible, creamy mezzo you’d have to go a long way to hear the role more beautifully sung.”
Limelight Magazine
“Barton, who has become one of the finest Wagner singers of her generation, sounded first-rate.”
The Mercury News
“A terrific, formidable Fricka, rolling her Rs with relish as she laid down the law.”
Classical Voice North America
“Completely convincing... Barton’s rich, warm voice portrays a woman who has gained self-confidence and who asserts her power. Barton’s Fricka plays with the emotions of Grimsley’s Wotan, exuding a combination of charm, anger and logic to derail Wotan’s long-term plans for recovering the cursed Nibelung Ring.”
Opera Warhorses
“Barton takes one of the thorniest challenges in all of the Ring’s demands. In Act II she manages a mesmerizing, searing turn in straightening out her wayward husband without a descent into caricature.”
Out West Arts
“Barton was a molten-voiced goddess of marriage, determined to uphold the tradition, as Wotan’s wife Fricka.”
SF Examiner
“Barton brought power, nuance, and beauty to Fricka, Waltraute, and the Second Norn, particularly her hurt, yet commanding, Walküre Fricka. That performance seemed to single-handedly raise the heat level on stage considerably.”
San Francisco Classical Voice
“Traditional morality could have no more eloquent a champion than Barton, whose Fricka was a dynamo of implacable reasoning delivered in lusty, full-throated tones.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“Zambello’s Norns (Ronnita Miller, Jamie Barton and Sarah Cambidge) are the hapless ghosts in this machine and they couldn’t be better sung. Impeccable diction and voices of real substance get the opera off to a tremendously powerful start… Previously impressing mightily for both power and beauty of line as the cycle’ Fricka, Jamie Barton delivers an equally radiantly sung Waltraute.”
Limelight Magazine
“Barton ranged from heroic pride to deflated grief as she described the felling of the ash tree as the Second Norn, and later served as a compelling Waltraute… She showed a great sense of pacing as she led the soft brass and timpani accompaniment in the orchestra, and a rich warmth as she told Brünnhilde of Wotan’s wish that the ring be returned.”
Parterre Box
An Open Book Is 'An Instant Classic'
"An instant classic...a rigorous and eclectic work." El Nuevo Herald reviews the sold-out launch concert of Jorge Mejia’s musical memoir.
May 7, 2018
Photo by WorldRedEye.com
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia launched his new musical memoir, An Open Book, at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center, sharing excerpts of his narratives and orchestral piano preludes with the sold-out audience.
El Nuevo Herald calls it "an instant classic...a rigorous and eclectic work."
An e-book alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, An Open Book is inspired by Mejia’s colorful family history in Colombia, musical coming-of-age, and charming romantic misadventures en route to meeting his wife, women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
Corinne Winters Interviewed on Italian Radio
"L'italiano è la lingua più bella del mondo!" Soprano Corinne Winters joined SBS Italian Radio to discuss her love for the Italian language and the juicy roles of the Italian operatic repertoire.
May 4, 2018
““Italian is the most beautiful language in the world!””
After wowing audiences in her Australian debut in La traviata at Opera Australia, American soprano Corinne Winters spoke with SBS Italian Radio, in an interview with Carlo Oreglia.
Photo by Fay Fox
'When you hear Barton, you want this opera renamed Adalgisa'
“Mezzo Jamie Barton, former HGO Studio Artist and conquering international singer, supplies heft, smoky velvet tone, and incomparable artistry…” Jamie Barton brings her Adalgisa to Houston Grand Opera’s Norma in Resilience Theater.
April 30, 2018
Photo by Cory Weaver
““Mezzo Jamie Barton...former HGO Studio Artist and conquering international singer, supplies heft, smoky velvet tone, and incomparable artistry to good girl gone bad then good. Sometimes a second lead makes this opera her own – Marilyn Horne immediately comes to mind. When you hear Barton’s glorious plangency, you want this opera renamed Adalgisa. She walks away with this production on a platter.””
Mezzo Jamie Barton brings her Adalgisa, one of her signature roles, to Norma at Houston Grand Opera, where she trained in the HGO Studio. Led by music director Patrick Summers, the cast includes Liudmyla Monastyrska in the title role, opposite Chad Shelton as Pollione. Performances at the Resilience Theater run through May 11, 2018, with tickets available via HGO.
Read more reviews:
"When mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, playing the young priestess Adalgisa, blended her rich tones with Monastyrska’s in their Act 2 due, “Mira, o Norma,” the mellifluous outcome recalled the classic pairing of Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne... The darkness and weight of Barton’s voice captured Adalgisa’s heavy-heartedness even at a whisper. Every phrase was alive and expressive."
Texas Classical Review
“A spellbinding performance that was a master class of bel canto virtuosity and dramatic connection…”
Houston Chronicle
"A star performance in Jamie Barton's Adalgisa... Barton showed her versatility in several registers of her voice, but most particularly the upper octave. It is exactly this trait that showcases how calling Adalgisa just another mezzo role is not telling the whole story. Barton was the most dynamic actress of the bunch, displaying her internal conflict especially vividly..."
Schmopera
“Barton, whose voice transformed Wagner’s frumpy Fricka into utter sophistication for HGO’s Ring cycle, showed her breadth as an artist with Bellini’s ornamented bel canto, handling each turn and leap with silky ease."
Houstonia
“Barton’s performance was absolutely thrilling. Flaunting a truly luxurious, rich-voiced mezzo reminiscent of the great Marilyn Horne...exquisitely phrased with a honeyed tone, even legato, and abundantly resonant chest voice. Barton and Monastyrska easily spun out phrase after phrase of gorgeous legato..."
Opera Wire
Jamie Barton Appears on Houston Life TV
Mezzo Jamie Barton and costume designer Jessica Jahn appear on Houston Life, taking audiences behind the scenes of Houston Grand Opera's production of Norma in Resilience Theater.
April 26, 2018
Mezzo Jamie Barton joined costume designer Jessica Jahn on Houston Life, taking audiences behind the scenes of Houston Grand Opera's production of Norma in Resilience Theater.
Norma, which stars Barton as Adalgisa opposite Liudmyla Monastyrska in the tile role and Chad Shelton as Pollione, opens April 27 and runs through May 11, with tickets available via HGO.
Corinne Winters Makes Australian Debut
“Winters glides, she soars with a magnificence of coloratura that is merely the theatrical expression of a wholly consistent characterisation, sometimes coolly self-possessed in the face of tightly controlled desire, sometimes enraptured, sometimes very convincingly at the edge of despair. This is a very contemporary Violetta – musically flawless but with a convincing and enshrouding self-possession…” Corinne Winters brings her signature role to Opera Australia in the beloved Elijah Moshinsky production of La traviata in Melbourne.
April 17, 2018
““A commanding, sometimes cool, sometimes rent Violetta from the American soprano Corinne Winters…””
American soprano Corinne Winters makes her Australian debut in the beloved Moshinsky production of La traviata at Opera Australia. Conducted by Carlo Montanaro, La traviata runs through May 11. Tickets can be purchased via Opera Australia.
Photo by Jeff Busby
Read more reviews:
"The ideal vehicle for introducing a star soprano... The Opera Australia debut of American Corinne Winters was rapturously received. Winters brings an abundance of knowledge to her signature role. She is as much an actor who sings as an operatic star. Her ease and fluidity on the stage allow her to relax into the character and focus on many elements which breathe life into a character. Ms. Winters’ dark and rich vocal tone handled with ease the many vigorous demands Verdi makes of his protagonist. This was a captivating portrait which drew well-deserved applause."
ConcertoNet
"Warm and expressive, ultimately catching fire during Violetta’s demise in the final act..."
Bachtrack
"Riveting performances... As Violetta lies distraught and dying, Winters comes into her full strength, giving a genuinely moving performance. Singing Violetta’s lament, “Addio, del passato,” Winters in full control and is seen and heard at her best."
Man in Chair
"Winters was at her best as the ailing Violetta of Act III, capturing the despair and desperation of a dying woman with affecting authenticity, her voice pale and pianissimo."
Canberra Times
"Winters’s vocal range and emotive portrayal of Violetta were on display and it was impossible not to be entranced."
The Plus Ones
"Winters worked the festivities vivaciously in creamy-rich voice as Violetta... Stirred by emotion and pondering if Alfredo could be the one when left alone singing “È strano! ... Ah, fors’è lui,” Winters bloomed marvellously. It was the emotional emphatic bursts on single phrases that genuinely crowned her performance."
Herald Sun
“The rich sound and particular texture of Winters' voice is unique. A powerful actor, her final act was especially potent with her voice often floating with sustained fragility.”
ArtsHub
“A commanding, sometimes cool, sometimes rent Violetta from the American soprano Corinne Winters… It is hard to fault Winters. She glides, she soars with a magnificence of coloratura that is merely the theatrical expression of a wholly consistent characterisation, sometimes coolly self-possessed in the face of tightly controlled desire, sometimes enraptured, sometimes very convincingly at the edge of despair. This is a very contemporary Violetta – musically flawless but with a convincing and enshrouding self-possession that rises to meet the implicit tragedy with which Verdi, almost against the odds, transfigures melodrama into tragedy.”
The Saturday Paper