Atlanta's Jamie Barton talks about debut recording of Jake Heggie’s ‘Intelligence’

ArtsATL
August 2025

When internationally renowned mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton first heard “Look Me in the Eye,” one of the big arias in Jake Heggie’s opera Intelligence, the power of the music left her in tears. The aria reflects the troubled conscience of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Southern woman of privilege during the Civil War who is musing on the evils of slavery and trying to fathom her own family’s support of the institution.

“She’s trying to understand how people she loved, including the father she adored, were a part of this system of slavery that is hurting and killing people,” Barton said. “She realizes that she can’t stand by and do nothing.”

A few years after hearing the aria for the first time, Barton would participate in the 2023 world-premiere performance of Intelligence, singing the leading role of Elizabeth. A live recording of that world premiere by Houston Grand Opera is being released on August 29 by HGO and LSO Live.

Read the full interview at ArtsATL!