The Cover Star of Classical Music Magazine's September Issue Is...
“I’m interested in building relationships with those houses, like San Francisco, who are doing really good work, but also trying to be inclusive in terms of who they hire as well as who they market to. That is a direction opera needs to go in to stay relevant and viable.” From witches and Wagner to women championing body positivity, this star mezzo-soprano talks all things opera with Classical Music Magazine.
September 1, 2019
“‘A witch is inherently the story of a woman going against what society deems worthy, beautiful, and powerful.””
Classical Music Magazine proclaims, “this is The Season of Jamie Barton.” In conversation with Lisa Houston, Barton opened up about her whirlwind schedule, getting her start as a young singer, the process of managing her career trajectory, and how she would love to sing Carmen.
“‘I feel strongly about Carmen,’ she says, ‘because I think I understand the character and the conflict. Carmen and all her associates are creative, liberal, colourful. They would be a Seattle, Washington, group of friends. While Don Jose is conservative, very Atlanta, Georgia,’ she says, laughing. ‘So they are oil and water. There is a stock character that people go to, which makes sense in a lot of ways, but for me the character is not dependent upon a size and look. I think a body-positive Carmen is right up the alley of what people should be thinking of and it’s something I’d love to be a part of.’”
Russell Tenor Is Opera News Magazine's May Cover Story
“Thomas is an engaging, easy conversationalist; he admits with a grin that he has ‘a lot of opinions,’ but they are impressively well argued and delivered without a trace of arrogance.” The American tenor has landed his first Opera News cover.
April 2, 2019
Photo by James Foster
American tenor Russell Thomas is featured on the cover of the May issue of Opera News, America’s most widely read classical music magazine.
Life on the road is sometimes challenging for Thomas, a single father who lives in Atlanta with his four-year-old son. Thomas is an engaging, easy conversationalist; he admits with a grin that he has “a lot of opinions,” but they are impressively well argued and delivered without a trace of arrogance. He speaks frankly and thoughtfully about the challenges of being a gay black man in an industry that has not traditionally nurtured black men as performers—or celebrated them as stars. “When I was in college [at New World School of the Arts in Miami], I began to hear those things that a lot of gay men in opera and the arts hear—‘Keep your personal life to yourself, don’t talk about that whole gay thing.’ But I have always felt that if I were going to be a singer—and I have wanted this career since I was eighteen—that I needed to be open about myself. I believe that people who aren’t open about who they are don’t share as much, emotionally, onstage as the people who own who they are. Singing has always been therapeutic for me. It helps me to be free. If I were closed off about who I was, I don’t know if I would be able to do that.”
Read the full interview in the May issue of Opera News!
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.”
Jamie Barton Is The Cover Story in Opera News Magazine
"Jamie Barton channels her mezzo superpowers" and lands on the cover of the January 2017 issue!
December 15, 2016
“Jamie Barton’s voice is a vast, enveloping sound, the sort of thing soprano Carol Vaness calls “a voice that blankets.” This is true whether she is offering a Dvorák song in recital or holding the stage as Waltraute. But nowhere was it more in evidence than at the Glimmerglass Festival last summer. After her opening group of Turina songs, the heavens opened, and a major storm pelted the roof. Returning to the stage for a group of Ives songs, Barton merrily chirped, “Hi! It’s raining!” (It is hard to think of a singer readier than Barton to smile in a lieder recital or giggle offstage.) She then proceeded to override the storm with her voice, never losing quality of sound and never giving the slightest sign that she might be at her limits.”
Jamie Barton "channels her mezzo superpowers" and lands on the cover of Opera News magazine's January 2017 issue!