A celebration of powerful, exceptional women…   

One of the great joys of singing is collaboration — working with beloved colleagues on exciting projects that matter and make a difference. I am a die-hard feminist, so work by and about women is very important to me. When the possibility to make Unexpected Shadows with my dear friend Jake Heggie presented itself, we decided to bring together voices of the powerful women represented in many of Jake’s songs and operas. Recording sessions at Skywalker were a total joy. We had the rare luxury of TIME! Time to explore the many nuances of the poetry and music and find what felt authentic and true to us. It was a memorable, fun, and deeply meaningful collaboration — and I’m very excited to share it on this recording.

Listen to Unexpected Shadows now!

“An album of rich, raw immediacy...Barton, versatile and big-hearted, catching any shred of wit or sorrow, responds to the music’s every need, each syllable crystal clear.”

— THE GUARDIAN

“Jamie Barton and Jake Heggie blaze forth...Unexpected Shadows makes the best possible case for the necessity and relevance of modern American classical song.”

— SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE

Recording of the Month “With Heggie and Barton, expect the unexpected. In the opening minute of her new album, sung entirely a capella, prize-winning mezzo Jamie Barton displays all her remarkable expressive and vocal skills. An exceptional talent...with lithe athleticism, creamy tone and an ability to raise your neck hairs...”

— LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE

“A true tour-de-force… Barton uses her velvet voice to charm and amuse like a magician at the right time. She is an unleashed diva who does everything to convince, and convinces. An excellent display of Jake Heggie’s art by one of today’s best singers.”

— EL NUEVO HERALD

“An outstanding recording. It may even be the best queer classical collaboration of the decade. If not, it’s certainly the must-have album of the year.”

— PARTERRE BOX

THE GUARDIAN

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the classical music world fell in love with Jamie Barton. Perhaps it was the 2013 Cardiff Singer of the World competition, when as an up-and-coming mezzo-soprano from Rome, Georgia, she carried off both first prize and the song prize – the first woman to do so. It was certainly a full-blown affair by the time of the 2019 Last Night of the Proms, when, dressed in the blue, pink and purple of the bisexual pride flag, she gleefully brandished a rainbow flag on stage as she sang Rule, Britannia! And to be in her Wigmore Hall recital that autumn was to witness an audience reaction inspired not by mere affection or respect, but by actual love.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Jamie Barton is speaking out — and singing — on behalf of women. For Barton, blending her musical activities with frankly stated positions on social and political issues has become an increasingly notable trademark.

GRAMOPHONE

Nothing about Barton is small, neither her seamless voice nor her personality, marked by irrepressible energy, public embrace of her bisexuality (and the culture that comes with it) plus her taste for anything-but-submissive characters.

OPERA MAGAZINE

She’s an artist whose exceptional personal warmth has endeared her to colleagues and audiences everywhere. Watch her walk onstage for a recital; she does so with regal confidence, but also with an inviting smile and a palpable eagerness to share stories with her listeners through song.

A complete singer with a once-in-a-generation voice, a born communicator, a deeply compassionate human being with so much to give to audiences – Jamie Barton is an artist whose time truly has come.