Miriam Khalil's Debut Disc Nominated for Classical Album of the Year
“Khalil's performances offer an energy and understanding that make hers a new definitive interpretation of the work.” Ayre: Live, the debut release from Against the Grain Theatre’s new in-house recording label, has been nominated for a 2019 Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year, Vocal or Choral.
January 30, 2019
““Khalil doesn’t so much sing the Argentine-born composer’s material as wholly inhabit it. The fluidity, grace, and seeming ease with which she executes the undulating melodies are stunning...””
Ayre: Live, the debut release from Against the Grain Theatre’s new in-house recording label, has earned a 2019 Juno Awards nomination for Classical Album of the Year, Vocal or Choral. The album has been critically acclaimed for its performances by Lebanese-Canadian soprano Miriam Khalil, who dispatches Osvaldo Golijov’s eclectic song cycle – with elements of Byzantine chant, Sephardic lullabies, Sardinian protest songs, and Arabic, Hebrew, and Christian texts – with aplomb.
Read reviews:
“One of my favourite albums of 2018… it is intimate yet powerful, piercing with emotion and mesmerizing in its tonal expression. The superb chamber ensemble of Toronto’s Against the Grain Theatre has a wonderful synergy with the company’s co-founder, soprano Miriam Khalil, a true star of this recording. Her immense range of colours and fascinating vocal transformations made her performance on this album both spectacular and touching.”
The WholeNote
“Khalil doesn't so much sing the Argentine-born composer's material as wholly inhabit it. Khalil's passionate engagement with the material is evident the moment her tremulous voice floats over a delicate foundation provided her by accordionist. The fluidity, grace, and seeming ease with which she executes the undulating melodies are stunning, and without wishing to downplay the magnitude of Golijov's accomplishment, it's her performance that most recommends the recording.”
Textura
“While Khalil’s delivery is unforced and achingly direct, it is far from artless or unpolished. The final movement, “Ariadna en su laberinto,” in particular is a tour de force of effortless virtuosity. Much of the movement is given over to wordless vocalise that traverses the entire compass of Khalil’s voice—she ascends from her lush, velvety lower register to a rhapsodic cantillation over an octave above without missing a beat, delivering the winding, highly ornamented phrases with a graceful fluidity that belies the iron control necessary to execute the extended passage. 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…”
Log Journal
“Best Recording of 2018: The clear standout was Miriam Khalil’s extraordinary performance of Golijov’s Ayre. It’s as spine-tingling on record as it was live.”
OperaRamblings
“Khalil’s performance shows her to be more than a singer: she is an elemental force. There are no missteps here… She sings with such tonal surety, such microscopic shading so as to mesmerize and move the listener, [then] rips through the text with ecstatic grunts, wails, menacing caterwauling. Khalil does great things as she leaps into operatic heights and sings long melismatic lines with solid technique and primal force.”
Opera Wire
"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. 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
“The gutsy, political, and hypnotising Ayre Live, performed by Canadian soprano and AtG founding member Miriam Khalil…offers an energy and understanding that make hers a new definitive interpretation of the work. The album is also a bold way for Against the Grain to inaugurate its status as a record label…to lead with Ayre is to lead with a strong message of putting art and diversity first - without compromising on quality.”
Schmopera
'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
Jorge Mejia and An Open Book Nominated for Latin Grammy
Mejia’s “Prelude in F Major for Piano and Orchestra,” from his album An Open Book, was nominated for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
September 20, 2018
Photo by Laura Coppelman
Jorge Mejia’s memoir in music, An Open Book, has been nominated for a Latin Grammy Award. The album comprises 25 preludes for piano and orchestra, with the composer appearing as pianist alongside the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.
A Steinway Artist, Jorge is a masterful storyteller dedicated to bringing new audiences to classical music. He was recently profiled in Billboard Magazine, graced the cover of Músico Pro Magazine, and was interviewed on WLRN Radio. Immediately following its Miami launch concert, An Open Book was hailed as "an instant classic...a rigorous and eclectic work" by El Nuevo Herald.
Mejia’s “Prelude in F Major for Piano and Orchestra” was nominated for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. The winner will be announced at the 2018 Latin Grammy Awards Show on November 15.
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."
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.
Jorge Mejia Lands on Cover of Músico Pro Magazine
“He delves with ivory keys into intimacies that words can not reach.” Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia talks with the magazine about stories, music, and straddling worlds of genre.
May 2, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia is on the cover of the special 22nd Anniversary edition of Spanish-language Músico Pro Magazine, in a feature titled "A Life Dreaming In Music".
“I sat down with Jorge Mejía in his home, at the foot of a beautiful Steinway, where he generously interlaced original pieces and sections of well-known melodies to better illustrate his responses. It turns out to be a particularly suitable dynamic given the concept of the most recent addition of its repertoire. His most ambitious project as a composer and performer is titled An Open Book: A Musical Memoir, and offers a narrative as a prelude to each instrumental piece, where he delves with ivory keys into intimacies that words can not reach.”
An Open Book Featured on WLRN's Sundial
Luis Hernandez interviews Jorge Mejia in a segment that also includes a reading and orchestral excerpts from this musical memoir.
May 1, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia joins Luis Hernandez on Sundial on WLRN in Miami to discuss An Open Book: A Memoir in Music.
Featuring a taste of An Open Book's innovative musical and narrative blend, Mejia's interview closes out the episode, beginning ~36:42.
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.
An Open Book will be celebrated with a reading and performance at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. The performance will feature a chamber orchestra, including members of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, accompanying the composer at the piano. Co-presented by Miami cultural mainstay Books & Books, the launch concert kicks off Mejia’s Latin American tour, which will also include appearances in Ecuador and Uruguay.
Pianist and Composer Jorge Mejia Profiled in UM Connect
"Being in Miami allowed me to continue growing as a multicultural citizen, and I never felt that my identity had to be wrapped up in just one facet of who I am." Ahead of the release of An Open Book: A Memoir in Music on Sony Latin, composer and pianist Jorge Mejia is profiled in UM Connect.
April 25, 2018
Photo by Laura Coppelman
““Being in Miami allowed me to continue growing as a multicultural citizen, and I never felt that my identity had to be wrapped up in just one facet of who I am.””
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia speaks with UM Connect about cultural identity, recording with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, and sneaking into Frost to practice piano as a high school student!
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.
An Open Book will be celebrated with a reading and performance at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. The performance will feature a chamber orchestra, including members of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, accompanying the composer at the piano. Co-presented by Miami cultural mainstay Books & Books, the launch concert kicks off Mejia’s Latin American tour, which will also include appearances in Ecuador and Uruguay.
Jorge Mejia Featured in El Nuevo Herald
“A musician who exemplifies the confluence that makes Miami unique.” Ahead of the release of An Open Book: A Memoir in Music on Sony Latin, composer and pianist Jorge Mejia speaks with El Nuevo Herald.
April 22, 2018
Photo by Laura Coppelman
““A musician who exemplifies the confluence that makes Miami unique.””
Ahead of the release of An Open Book: A Memoir in Music, pianist and composer Jorge Mejia spoke with El Nuevo Herald about cultural identity, musical genres, and how his dual careers inspire his work in both Latin music and classical music.
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.
An Open Book will be celebrated with a reading and performance at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. The performance will feature a chamber orchestra, including members of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, accompanying the composer at the piano. Co-presented by Miami cultural mainstay Books & Books, the launch concert kicks off Mejia’s Latin American tour, which will also include appearances in Ecuador and Uruguay.
All Who Wander Wins 2018 BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award
“No one who has heard Jamie Barton in action is in any doubt about the American mezzo-soprano’s gifts. She boasts an expansive, robust vocal sound, tinged with richly varied colors, and she deploys it with a distinctive combination of heroic power and tender intimacy. So the splendors of her debut release don’t exactly come as a surprise. But that hardly diminishes the joy of listening to Barton’s expressive, full-throated performances.” Jamie Barton's debut solo album has won the Vocal Category of the 2018 BBC Music Magazine Awards.
April 6, 2018
““The long wait for Jamie Barton’s debut recital disc was worth every minute. Barton is wonderfully idiomatic in Dvořák and Sibelius, and she and her pianist give a performance of Mahler’s Rückert Lieder that is up there with the greatest.””
Jamie Barton's debut album, released on Delos Music, has won the 2018 BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award. Accompanied by pianist Brian Zeger, All Who Wander features lush, romantic melodies by Mahler, Dvorak, and Sibelius. All Who Wander was also nominated for an International Classical Music Award in the Vocal Recital category, and was one of six Solo Vocal albums shortlisted by Gramophone for their Classical Music Awards.
Photo courtesy of BBC Music Magazine
Jorge Mejia to release genre-bending "An Open Book: A Memoir in Music"
A heavyweight in the Latin music world, classical composer and pianist Jorge Mejia releases AN OPEN BOOK: A Memoir in Music on Sony Latin on May 4, 2018. This ambitious genre-blending project, born of Mejia’s devotion to storytelling in all its forms, is an e-book alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.
March 20, 2018
““Jorge Mejia’s world is imagery, cinema, storytelling, and he doesn’t hold back.””
Photo by Laura Coppelman
To be released via Sony Music Latin, An Open Book: A Memoir in Music is an ambitious genre-blending project, born of Mejia's devotion to storytelling in all its forms. An audiobook 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.
Drawing on his experiences as an immigrant in America, Mejia’s evocative compositional style explores intersections of identity, culture, and language. Mejia’s compositions have been played by the Nu Deco Ensemble and Miami Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who described his preludes as “almost a genre of their own. Composed to be performed next to spoken text, they create a wonderful cinematic effect, full of vibrant colors and lush melodies.”
Also available as an e-book with musical tracks, An Open Book will be celebrated with a reading and performance at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. The performance will feature a chamber orchestra, including members of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, accompanying the composer at the piano. Co-presented by Miami cultural mainstay Books & Books, the launch concert kicks off Mejia’s Latin American tour, which will also include appearances in Ecuador and Uruguay.
Jamie Barton's Debut Album Nominated for BBC Music Magazine Awards
"Some of the most beautiful recordings I have ever heard. Anyone who loves the human voice should own this." All Who Wander is up for a BBC Music Magazine Award in the Vocal category.
January 25, 2018
Jamie Barton's debut album, released on Delos Music, has been nominated for a BBC Music Magazine Award in the Vocal category for 2018. Voting is open until February 19 at www.classical-music.com/awards.
All Who Wander has also been nominated for an International Classical Music Award in the Vocal Recital category, and was one of six Solo Vocal albums shortlisted by Gramophone for their Classical Music Awards.
Accompanied by pianist Brian Zeger, All Who Wander features lush, romantic melodies by Mahler, Dvorak, and Sibelius.
““Jamie Barton seems now to be the equal of any dramatic mezzo before the public. The great element which has enabled her rise to stardom is, of course, her voice-large, rich, fully controlled. She is one of the few singers who can delight an audience simply by the sheer beauty of her voice. Nowhere is this beauty more evident than here.
She and Zeger communicate exactly the proper mood of each song, whether boisterous and fun-loving or quiet and reflective. Barton produces some exquisite soft singing, with amazingly steady sustained tones [and] she emphasizes the drama of the situation with great variations in dynamics, from her beautiful soft singing to exciting forte passages.
But it is the opening section of Mahler songs that makes this recording stand alone – Ms. Barton’s glorious sound reinforcing the emotions surely felt by any sensitive listener. These are some of the most beautiful recordings I have ever heard. Anyone who loves the human voice should own this.””
A Silent Night Album Resonates
“These artists address the listener with the urgency of a prophet or an obsessive. World War I ended almost a century ago, but they make it seem present and pressing, like many of the songs it inspired. Artsong recitals rarely feel so grounded in reality.” The debut album from baritone John Brancy and pianist Peter Dugan is reviewed in Opera News and aired on radio stations across the U.S.
October 15, 2017
““These artists address the listener with the urgency of a prophet or an obsessive. World War I ended almost a century ago, but they make it seem present and pressing, like many of the songs it inspired. Art song recitals rarely feel so grounded in reality.””
A Silent Night, the first disc from baritone John Brancy and pianist Peter Dugan, has earned praise from Opera News and airtime on radio stations across the U.S. Hailed by The Washington Post as “refreshingly, marvelously different,” their WWI tribute album features the music of British, German, French, and American composers who lived through, fought in, and died in the Great War.
Read the full review in Opera News.
Juilliard Duo Pay Tribute to WWI In Song
“The general reaction we have gotten from audiences is that it not only educates them, but it delivers them to a place and time that is really hard to feel without the music. People can actually feel these moments deeply within their souls and spirits.” Baritone John Brancy and pianist Peter Dugan release A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song this month.
April 6, 2017
““This recital was so different – so refreshingly, marvelously different... The goal of a recital is not originality as much as making a statement as an artist. And at this, Brancy and Dugan succeeded superbly.””
Since their 2014 professional recital debut at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, baritone John Brancy and pianist Peter Dugan have crisscrossed the continent performing music inspired by and written during World War I. Hailed by The Washington Post as “refreshingly, marvelously different,” their WWI tribute program features the music of British, German, French, and American composers who lived through, fought in, and died in the Great War.
Performed for rapt audiences at Carnegie Hall, Joye in Aiken Festival, St. John’s College, University of Chicago, and the Société d’art vocal de Montréal, this acclaimed program has now been captured in the duo’s debut album, A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song.
As official commemorative partners of the United States World War I Centennial Commission and its French counterpart, Mission du Centenaire, Brancy and Dugan perform at an April 6 event for foreign and American dignitaries. Commemorating the centennial of the U.S. entry into WWI, In Sacrifice for Liberty and Peace takes place at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, MO.
Ahead of the album’s wide release, event attendees are able to purchase advance copies of A Silent Night, with all proceeds benefiting Arts in the Armed Forces, a non-profit organization founded by Brancy and Dugan's fellow Juilliard alumnus, actor Adam Driver. In hopes of bridging the gap between artist and soldier, AITAF performs contemporary American theater free of charge at military installations around the world, for active duty military servicemembers, veterans, military caretakers, and their families.
The album’s official launch will take place at the Yamaha Piano Salon in New York City on April 28.
All Who Wander Is A Hit
"It’s the sort of instrument you could listen to all day, in any sort of repertoire." Jamie Barton's debut album is receiving critical acclaim from San Francisco to London.
December 31, 2016
“No one who has heard Jamie Barton in action is in any doubt about the American mezzo-soprano’s gifts. She boasts an expansive, robust vocal sound, tinged with richly varied colors, and she deploys it with a distinctive combination of heroic power and tender intimacy. So the splendors of her debut release don’t exactly come as a surprise. But that hardly diminishes the joy of listening to Barton’s expressive, full-throated performances.”
Jamie Barton's debut album, released November 11 on Delos Music, is earning rave reviews from San Francisco to London.
Accompanied by pianist Brian Zeger, All Who Wander features lush, romantic melodies by Mahler, Dvorak, and Sibelius.
Read reviews:
"The voice is rich, generous and vibrant, big but beautifully controlled, impeccably smooth throughout its range. It’s the sort of instrument you could listen to all day, in any sort of repertoire. This really is an exciting talent, and a terrific disc."
Gramophone
"Barton’s grand and rich voice is perhaps as big as Flagstad’s, Farrell, and Nilsson’s, with tone as beautiful and unforced as the first two singers’. Its compass extends from the bottom of the mezzo range to an easy, room-shaking high C. But as easily as Barton can envelop you with sound, she can also grab you by the gut, and propel you deep into the emotional heart of music’s great mysteries. It is the emotional depth of Barton’s artistry that sets her apart from other singers blessed with exceptional voices. She has the power to render you breathless and at her mercy. I expect that you, too, will marvel at how, as Barton expands her voice to huge proportions, her sound and heart also expand to encompass every emotion of a woman lost in memories of a great, lost love."
Stereophile
“Jamie Barton has one of the great voices in the world today. Sumptuous, flexible, and capable of light and shade, her sizeable mezzo pours forth seamlessly. Barton’s voice at full cry is thrilling to behold but the majesty of her instrument never overwhelms the songs. Her ability to lighten her tone, especially in the tricky upper middle voice, notably allows her to sing with expressive freedom. All Who Wander is everything a song recital should be. Delivering both familiar and unfamiliar fare in beguiling interpretations, Barton and Zeger take the listener into the world of each song with deft musicality and emotional sincerity.”
Parterre Box
“A rising star, Barton seems as comfortable on the concert platform as the opera stage. In these art-songs admirable throughout is Barton’s alluring tone and gorgeous phrasing. My highlight is Mahler’s magnificent Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, a multi-faceted score full of world-weary introspection. In this intensely melancholic writing, Barton communicates a real sense of yearning to moving effect, which felt extremely spiritual. The text that aches with emotion in Um Mitternacht (At midnight) is enchantingly sung, maintaining an intense expression that adds to the dream-like quality of the writing and concludes with a sense of resignation.”
Music Web International
"Barton is the most important American mezzo-soprano since Stephanie Blythe, another phenomenon capable of singing everything, and very well. Instead of Bellini’s Adalgisa and Wagner’s Fricka, which are her calling cards on opera stages around the world, the singer opted for a more intimate and very demanding repertoire. Barton has been given a voice and that abundance of means could betray her; fortunately those fears are unfounded. Her instrument is a column of generous, opulent sound that dominates to the point of allowing her to completely abandon herself to the chosen material in order to concentrate on the interpretation."
El Nuevo Herald
"We listened to All Who Wander on a rainy afternoon in London; Barton’s singing is just as much a warm hug on a cold day as it is a refreshing breeze in the heat.”
Schmopera
"Barton’s voice is delicate throughout, a sound that the audiences are not accustomed to hearing in the opera house where her potent mezzo soprano exhilarates with its brilliance and forwardness."
Opera Wire
"Perhaps the song on the record which encapsulates best what Barton can do is Sibelius’ “Säv, säv, susa”. She conveys its arched structure from repose to violence and back again with real conviction, and the final long vowels are unbelievable.”
The Arts Desk
"She is emphatically her own artist. All Who Wander is a testament to Barton’s artistic individuality—and, equally importantly, to the depths of her talent. No, the Twenty-First Century has given us no Flagstad or Callas, but what a gift we have been given in Jamie Barton."
Voix des Arts
The Crossroads Project Lauded by Boston Globe
"At this point, environmentally oriented performances are nothing new, but this music is deep enough to engage on its own." Read more from the Boston Globe on the Fry Street Quartet's latest project.
December 16, 2016
“Its modes hop from inviting post-minimalism to electrifying dissonance to twisted nostalgia, ending with a pensive ascent. The Fry Street Quartet plays fluently and fluidly, with remarkable unity in unintuitive passages.”
The Fry Street Quartet's new release on Navona, The Crossroads Project, is featured in the Boston Globe.
Last month, a “king tide” brought Boston Harbor up to the sidewalk of Long Wharf, seawater flowing through cutouts in the concrete barriers. For those few hours, the border between the built and the natural shifted, creating a sense of dislocation and, for some, wonder. This liminal zone is the territory of the Fry Street Quartet’s recent release on Navona, “The Crossroads Project.” The Utah-based group performs commissions by American composers Laura Kaminsky and Libby Larsen. Both pieces center on themes of nature and sustainability, and are accompanied by topical narration and visuals when performed live; at this point, environmentally oriented performances are nothing new, but this music is deep enough to engage on its own.
Photo by Andrew McAllister
Jamie Barton to Release First Solo Album on 11/11/16
All Who Wander features songs of Mahler, Dvořák and Sibelius, accompanied by pianist Brian Zeger.
October 19, 2016
Hailed by Alex Ross in The New Yorker as a “once in a generation talent,” mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton shares her deep appreciation for the art song repertoire, a cornerstone of her career, in her solo recording debut.
To be released by Delos Music on November 11, 2016, and featuring pianist Brian Zeger, All Who Wander includes selections by Gustav Mahler, Antonín Dvořák, and Jean Sibelius that speak to an adventurer’s spirit – savoring and reckoning with all of life’s experiences.
“All Who Wander is inspired by something that lives within all of us – the desire to step out of our ordinary lives, or society’s rules, and explore the world,” Barton said. “These songs share personal memories and thoughts, but the emotions they express are universal.”
Jamie Barton Featured on New Holiday Album
"Fresh snow covered in dark honey." Jamie Barton joins Essential Voices USA for their Holiday Harmonies release.
October 31, 2015
Jamie Barton is featured on Holiday Harmonies, a disc of holiday music by Judith Clurman's Essential Voices USA that combines new arrangements of holiday favorites with original compositions by Jennifer Higdon and Nico Muhly.
The album can be sampled on YouTube and purchased via Amazon and iTunes.
Read reviews:
“Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, who rocked the house portraying Jane Seymour in Donizetti's Anna Bolena at the Metropolitan Opera, interprets Silent Night with touching sensitivity and fullness of voice. Likewise, in Reger's The Virgin's Slumber Song, Barton soothes the soul with her fluid, gently rocking quality.”
Broadway World Classical
"Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton’s voice soars with beautiful sincerity over a chorus of angels in 'Silent Night,' and she sways just as gracefully over a muted piano accompaniment in the lesser-known lullaby, 'The Virgin’s Slumber Song.'"
Second Inversion
“Tedd Firth and Judith Clurman’s arrangement of “Silent Night,” featuring the Metropolitan Opera’s Jamie Barton, starts out with a post-modern open feel that makes each note new as fresh snow covered in dark honey. Barton’s rubato feels graceful and grateful at once.”
[Q]onStage