Jamie Barton's Recital Tour Starts with A Bang in Boston, New York
“The kind of singer that changes the way we think about mezzos in this century…the kind of singer who brings us back to other centuries. The voice itself is, of course, a marvel. Rich and sonorous, but also vulnerable, it seems to emerge from the depths of the lower abdomen, as though lungs could start where legs ended, with tone shooting up from the floor.” Jamie Barton and pianist Kathleen Kelly kick off their recital tour to rapturous acclaim in Boston and New York.
December 18, 2017
Photo by Richard Termine
Mezzo Jamie Barton kicks off a recital tour with pianist Kathleen Kelly with her Celebrity Series Boston debut and a return to Carnegie Hall.
Read reviews:
“A thoughtful and deeply satisfying program."
The New York Times
"Barton is a wonderful recitalist, and this was a terrific program. Barton doesn’t color text—she embodies it. Her acting is powerful but finely judged: every word is alive and specific, but never floats entirely free of real speech. By the same token, her diction is so magnificent, and her projection of it so finely calibrated to the hall, that after a while you just stop looking at the printed texts. Her final exploratory “Mmmmm,” in “Boys Lips” was an erotic education all by itself. Her “But oh, oh, insomniac moonlight,/How unhoneyed is my middle of the night,” in “The Empty Song,” found a balance of voluptuous pain and wry self-mockery that’s precisely right for a song that’s sparked by an empty shampoo-bottle. And anyone who can get seven distinct, hearty laughs out of a mere fourteen lines of text, plus applause and bravos in the middle of a group, as Barton did with “Big Sister Says,” is assuredly cooking with gas."
ZEALnyc
"I've always wondered what it would be like to swim in a pool of maple syrup – and now I know. From the minute Ms. Barton opened her mouth, she unleashed a rolling tone that poured over her audience, soaking them in the sugary, maple tones of her delicious mezzo. We were drenched – but in the way an idyllic bite of pancake is drenched."
Broadway World Opera
“The kind of singer that changes the way we think about mezzos in this century…the kind of singer who brings us back to other centuries. The voice itself is, of course, a marvel. Rich and sonorous, but also vulnerable, it seems to emerge from the depths of the lower abdomen, as though lungs could start where legs ended, with tone shooting up from the floor.”
Parterre Box
"It’s easy to hear why Barton has become so popular, for the singer has a voice of remarkable power and depth. Barton brought lyrical grace and zeal to a wide-ranging program of songs by French, German, Austrian, and American composers. Barton’s singing is dark, yet radiant with a voice that is smooth in all registers. Given her operatic experience, particularly in Wagnerian roles, her singing also has weight and gravity. Her high notes, too, rang like a bell. But Barton’s greatest strength lies in her ability to tell stories through music. With searching intensity that found the wide emotional range of each song she sang, Barton performed as if each piece were a miniature drama. Stories, it was revealed, are best told through song."
Boston Classical Review
"Along with the extraordinary power of her voice, Barton’s luminous smile won me over before she sang a note. Barton’s radiant joy in performing was obvious. as was the special synergy she shared with her excellent pianist, Kathleen Kelly. The other surprising thing was the originality of the program, which included music very few in the audience had heard. The truth is, even without Barton’s keen musical intelligence – and that radiant voice – this song recital would have been worth hearing because of her wonderfully imaginative choice of music... I suspected I was enjoying the loveliest thing I’ll hear this holiday season."
The Arts Fuse
Jamie Barton Receives Raves on U.S./U.K. Tour
"She brought enormous power, rich colours and perfect intonation to the vocal line. This was highly emotional and yet beautifully restrained singing that really got beneath the skin of the music.” Jamie Barton's recent recital tour with pianist James Baillieu was 'ecstatically acclaimed' by audiences and critics alike.
October 23, 2016
“Barton has an excellent technique, evenly spanning a cavernous lower register and a gleaming top; her breath control is apparently effortless, she sings perfectly in tune. There’s something of Marilyn Horne about the silver sheen and focus of the tone, but the voice is bigger and broader than Horne’s, and more than capable of firing the big guns demanded by Verdi and Wagner. She is also a born communicator, smiley and chatty and radiating infectious pleasure in the glorious noise she makes.”
Jamie Barton's recital tour with pianist James Baillieu has been met with raves around the United States and United Kingdom, culminating in what The Telegraph dubbed an 'ecstatically acclaimed' Wigmore Hall debut in London.
Read more reviews:
"Although winners of the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition have recently shown an alarming tendency to vanish without trace, the 2013 laureate Jamie Barton is clearly here to stay."
The Telegraph
“I remember watching Jamie Barton’s performances during the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2013 and I was impressed with the amazing consistency she demonstrated through a wide range of repertoire. In Barton’s Wigmore Hall début, her operatic credentials were fully on display and she brought enormous power, rich colours and perfect intonation to the vocal line. This was highly emotional and yet beautifully restrained singing that really got beneath the skin of the music.”
Seen and Heard International
“Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and pianist James Baillieu certainly know how to begin a recital at Wigmore Hall, filling it with the warm, bold sounds of Joaquín Turina's Homenaje a Lope de Vega. Unrestrained, yet without sacrificing beauty of sound...their picks of Brahms Lieder, Dvořák's Gypsy Songs, and sets by Charles Ives and Jean Sibelius all seemed to give Barton the room her voice craves (and suited Baillieu's grounded, symphonic sound at the piano); yet they never missed an opportunity for subtlety. She...conjured up a real world of American warmth, with tight hugs and loud conversations. It's notable that Barton never stepped into the world of opera for this recital - though it would have been a sure hit if she had. It's exciting when a singer has enough tools and expertise at her disposal, and still earns ovations without the slam-dunk of a Verdi aria.”
Schmopera
“American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton has a wonderful, characterful voice, with apparently effortless and even tone production and control. She seems to be able to spin out a quiet phrase – and just hold it forever. The fascination of witnessing Jamie Barton develop as a singer of the song repertoire promises to be a fascinating journey.”
The Arts Desk