Jamie Barton
 

2023-24 Season Highlights

  • World premiere of Jake Heggie’s Intelligence on opening night of Houston Grand Opera’s season

  • Return to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Amneris in Aida

  • Featured soloist in Gala concert for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s 75th anniversary

  • Company debut with Orlando Philharmonic in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2

  • An already sold-out run of Mahler’s Symphony
    No. 8  with Orchestre de Paris

 

Biographical Info

  • Born in Rome, Georgia, on October 17, 1981

  • Graduated from Armuchee High School in Armuchee, Georgia

  • Vocal studies at Shorter College and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

  • Opera Theatre of St. Louis Gerdine Young Artist and Tanglewood Vocal Fellow

  • Alumna of Aspen Music Festival and Houston Grand Opera Studio

  • Lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her cat River – who often travels with her!

 
 
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Career Highlights

  • Headlining Last Night of the Proms at BBC Proms 2019

  • Singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” for Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks

  • Appearing on the covers of Opera News, BBC Music Magazine, and Classical Music Magazine

  • Performing on 80th Birthday Galas for Sherrill Milnes and Marilyn Horne

  • Singing first full Ring cycle – as Fricka/Waltraute – at San Francisco Opera

  • Featured in The New York Times as “Opera’s Nose-Studded Rock Star”

  • Singing "God Bless America" with New York City Pops, followed by dinner with Marilyn Horne, Tyne Daly, and Angela Lansbury!

  • Featured in the documentary The Audition, about the 2007 Met Auditions

  • Hearing the audience applause after her Wigmore Hall debut with James Baillieu – a moment she’ll never forget!

  • Debuting a new work at Tanglewood with Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, and Colin Jacobsen – exactly 10 years after being a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow
     

Awards

  • 2022 Grammy® Nominee / Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

  • 2021 International Opera Awards / Readers’ Award

  • 2020 Musical America Awards / Artist of the Year

  • 2020 BBC Music Magazine Awards / Personality of the Year

  • 2018 BBC Music Magazine Awards / Vocal Award

  • 2017 Beverly Sills Artist Award

  • 2015 Richard Tucker Award

  • 2014 Marian Anderson Vocal Award

  • 2014 International Opera Awards / Young Singer

  • 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World / Main & Song Prizes

  • 2011 Grammy® Nominee / Best Opera Recording

  • 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Winner

 
 
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Critical Acclaim

  • “Barton is a great artist, no question, with an imperturbable steadiness of tone, and a nobility of utterance that invites comparison not so much with her contemporaries as with mid-20th century greats such as Kirsten Flagstad or Karin Branzell." The Guardian

  • “Barton's gifts were evident at once - in particular a gleaming vocal tone that is evenly produced throughout a large range, and the ability to shape a vocal line with both precision and emotional urgency…full of psychological nuance.” San Francisco Chronicle

  • "Although Barton is rapidly establishing herself as one of the most important young voices in opera, it is in the intimate space of the recital hall where she shines brightest. Barton’s innate charm and communicative urgency radiated through her amber-hued voice and warm, Mona Lisa-smile directly to the audience." The New York Times

  • "Barton provided an indelible demonstration of why the young mezzo-soprano has become the latest darling of the American opera scene. Her sound is the darkly creamy lager that poured forth from altos of yore. Yet she displays the craft of a superior modern singer..." Los Angeles Times

  • "She is a fresh wonder of the opera world, possessing a voice of preternatural beauty and power. She has a remarkable ability to keep the vocal line afloat amid pauses for breath; she'd swell on a note, take a breath, and then resume at even greater volume, tricking the ear into thinking that the phrase had never been broken. To see these young artists reveling together in their voices makes you believe unswervingly in the future of the art." The Rest is Noise

  • “Jamie Barton’s mezzo-soprano has a velvety richness that descends to cavernous, chesty depths — basically it’s a voice that you want to eat with a spoon.” The London Times

  • “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. 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.” Limelight Magazine

Anecdotes

  • A massive bluegrass fan; life goal to make music with Chris Thile

  • A huge fan of sci-fi, particularly Doctor Who, Torchwood, Firefly

  • Held many odd jobs as a teenager, including teaching woodcarving, leatherwork, and metalwork to Boy Scouts

  • Grew up learning to love music by listening to bands like Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Grateful Dead

  • Started in musical theater; would love to perform Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Charlotte in A Little Night Music, and The Witch in Into the Woods

  • Dream collaborators include Audra McDonald, Trent Reznor, Björk, Mason Bates, Eric Whitacre, Jason Robert Brown, Adam Guettel

 
 
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