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
New Site Launched for American Tenor Russell Thomas
“A heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision…” American tenor Russell Thomas will bring his signature elegance and intensity to the title characters in Verdi’s Otello, Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, and Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito.
July 11, 2018
Verismo Communications announces the launch of a new website for American tenor Russell Thomas, who performs Verdi's iconic Otello with this Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl this month.
With a “heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision” (Opera Magazine) and “gorgeously burnished power” (The New York Times), Thomas uses his signature elegance and intensity to create vivid character portrayals on the world’s most important stages.
The upcoming 2018/19 season features Mr. Thomas’s hotly anticipated stage debut as the title character in Otello, to be seen at the Canadian Opera Company after concert performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He sings Manrico in Il trovatore at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Lyric Opera of Chicago, makes his role debut as as the title character in Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, and brings his celebrated Tito in La clemenza di Tito to Los Angeles Opera. On the concert stage, he joins the World Orchestra for Peace in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the BBC Proms, and performs Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
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
Heidi Melton's Valhallantines for the New York Phil
Heidi Melton turned Wagnerian wit into Valhallantines for the New York Phil's Instagram account.
February 14, 2018
In collaboration with Verismo, soprano Heidi Melton created a series of #Valhallantine posts for her takeover of the New York Philharmonic's Instagram account on Valentine's Day.
In honor of epic and awkward romances, The Ring Cycle-themed poems ranged from limericks and haiku to "roses are red" verses, utilizing Melton's deep knowledge of the Wagnerian repertoire.
Melton's performance as Sieglinde that evening earned critical notice, with The New York Times praising her as "a radiant soprano... Singing with bloom and richness, Ms. Melton was a tender, vulnerable Sieglinde.” Bachtrack was impressed by her "warm and gleaming voice...acted with insight and wisdom," while the New York Classical Review raved, "Soprano Heidi Melton proved nearly ideal as Sieglinde. She brought a rich voice to the role, showing smooth tenderness through most of the act, but was capable of thrilling energy, as well."
Learn more about Heidi Melton >
New HeidiMelton.com Launch
"The Wagnerian voice we have been waiting for since Flagstad and Nilsson." This season, American dramatic soprano Heidi Melton sings Brünnhilde and Sieglinde in performances of Wagner's Ring Cycle at the New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, and Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.
December 20, 2017
Verismo Communications announces the launch of a new website for dramatic soprano Heidi Melton, who has been hailed as “the Wagnerian voice we have been waiting for since Flagstad and Nilsson” (La Presse), with a voice that is “big, gleaming and tonally resplendent” (San Francisco Chronicle).
In the 2017/18 season, Melton makes a role debut as Brünnhilde in a new production of Götterdämmerung at Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe followed by performances of the complete Ring Cycle later in the spring. Ms. Melton also returns to the New York Philharmonic as Sieglinde in Act 1 of Die Walküre and with the Dallas Symphony as Brünnhilde in a complete concert performance of Die Walküre, both conducted by Jaap van Zweden. She sings Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 as the Second Soprano with Tonkünstler Orchester and Andres Orozco-Estrada in Vienna. In New York City, she sings a recital for the George London Foundation at the Morgan Library.
Jamie Barton Is Stellar in HGO Götterdämmerung, World Still Goes Down in Flames
"An international phenom with that dazzlingly creamy voice and commanding stage presence. With power to spare, she soars over the lush orchestration...to penetrate the wrenching heart of her tale." Mezzo Jamie Barton returns to Houston for the final installment of Wagner's epic Ring cycle.
April 25, 2017
Photo by Lynn Lane
Mezzo Jamie Barton returns to Houston Grand Opera for Götterdämmerung, the thrilling conclusion of Wagner's Ring cycle. Appearing as both Waltraute and 2nd Norn, Barton joins an all-star cast featuring Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde, Simon O'Neill as Siegfriend, Meredith Arwady as 1st Norn, Heidi Melton as 3rd Norn, and Andrea Silvestrelli as Hagen. Conducted by Patrick Summers, the production is the final installment in an artistic marvel designed by La Fura dels Baus.
Performances run through May 7; tickets can be purchased via the HGO site.
Read reviews:
"Mezzo Jamie Barton is already an international phenom with that dazzlingly creamy voice and commanding stage presence. As Waltraute, she shines most bright. Her account of father Wotan's fall into despair is an achingly beautiful mini-scene that displays her glorious voice to full effect. With power to spare, she soars over the lush orchestration...to penetrate the wrenching heart of her tale. It's a glorious performance from this gifted young artist."
Houston Press
"A fleet of extravagant women joins Goerke in this final installment, beginning with the three Norns—Meredith Arwady, Jamie Barton and Heidi Melton—who twist the strands of fate in the prelude with opulence and ease."
Houstonia
“Goerke and her Valkyrie sister Waltraute, sung by Jamie Barton, are two strong women, two strong dramatic singers, matching each other in anguish and intensity in a memorable scene.”
Arts+Culture Texas
“The central couple was surrounded by compelling portrayals. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, a powerful Fricka earlier in the Ring, made an equally formidable Waltraute. Not only did her voice well up commandingly when her monologue foreshadowed the final catastrophe, but she brought weight and intensity even to the quietest moments.”
Texas Classical Review
Amanda Majeski Returns to Glyndebourne
“Amanda Majeski made the best Eva I have heard in years, true of pitch and pure of tone, comfortable in all reaches of the part and emotionally persuasive from beginning to end." Majeski returns to the rolling hills of Glyndebourne as Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
May 25, 2016
Photo by Tristram Kenton
““Amanda Majeski’s ravishingly sung Eva radiates disembodied beauty.” THE INDEPENDENT”
Soprano Amanda Majeski returned to the Glyndebourne Festival as Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, opposite Gerald Finley as Hans Sachs.
The handsome David McVicar production, in which Majeski had previously starred at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, also features Michael Schade, Jochen Kupfer, Alastair Miles, David Portillo, and Hanna Hipp.
Performances run through June 27; tickets can be purchased via the Glyndebourne site.
Read reviews:
“Amanda Majeski made the best Eva I have heard in years, true of pitch and pure of tone, comfortable in all reaches of the part and emotionally persuasive from beginning (fidgeting in the church pew) to end (despair at Walther’s initial rejection of the Guild). The radiant B flat with which she crowned the quintet was perfection.”
Opera Magazine
"Amanda Majeski’s ravishingly sung Eva radiates disembodied beauty under the cobbler-poet Sachs’s benediction."
The Independent
"Amanda Majeski is a lovely, silvery-voiced Eva."
Financial Times
"Amanda Majeski (Eva) and Hanna Hipp (Magdalene) both demonstrated those qualities [passion and ardor] abundantly towards Walther and David as the respective objects of their romantic affections; indeed, vocally, they were very similar in tone and excellence."
Classical Source
"Majeski’s voice has an inhaled ease to it, blooming with no obvious strain or overwork."
The Arts Desk
"Amanda Majeski’s Eva fulfilled most of the promise which she had shown as the Countess in the 2013 Le nozze di Figaro, her touching intonation and unaffected stage presence ideal for Wagner’s ‘little Ev’chen’."
musicOMH
"The American soprano Amanda Majeski was Eva. Reminiscent of Gundula Janowitz, she launched the quintet exquisitely and looked very pretty to boot."
The Telegraph
Jamie Barton Lands on Front Page of Wall Street Journal
Barton featured in "How Bugs Bunny and ‘Kill the Wabbit’ Inspired a Generation of Opera Stars."
May 20, 2016
““He picks up the wabbit and he thinks, ‘Oh, no, I’ve actually killed it.’ This is the wonderful thing about opera. It’s the musical embodiment of the whirlwind of emotions of human beings, right?” JAMIE BARTON”
Jamie Barton, along with three Washington National Opera Ring colleagues, appeared on the front page of this weekend's Wall Street Journal, discussing the influence of Bugs Bunny's 'What's Opera, Doc.' Barton was also featured in an accompanying video on the WSJ website.
Jamie Barton to Debut at New York Philharmonic, Return to Houston Grand Opera
Recent announcements for the 2016/17 season also include a return to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and a Wigmore Hall recital debut.
February 3, 2016
In the 2016/17 season, Jamie Barton will make her Wigmore Hall recital debut in London, and return to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for Mahler's 3rd Symphony.
Barton will also debut with the New York Philharmonic as Fricka in a semi-staged production of Das Rheingold, a role she first sang at Houston Grand Opera.
An alumna of the HGO Studio, Barton will return to Houston in April and May of 2017 for Götterdämmerung, in which she will perform Waltraute and Second Norn alongside Simon O'Neill as Siegfried, Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde, and Andrea Silvestrelli as Hagen.
Photo by Lynn Lane