Shaping The Culture
Critically acclaimed by virtually every major outlet covering classical music, American opera singer Jamie Barton is increasingly recognized for how she uses her powerful instrument offstage – lifting up women, queer people, and other marginalized communities. Her lively social media presence on Instagram and Twitter serves as a hub for conversations about body positivity, diet culture, social justice issues, and LGBTQ+ rights. Jamie has recently brought her perspective to The Guilty Feminist, Slate, Studio 360, Front Row Live, The Times, Observer | The Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle, and cover stories in Opera Now Magazine, Classical Music Magazine, and BBC Music Magazine. She was named 2020 Personality of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards and received the Opera Magazine Readers’ Award at the 2021 International Opera Awards. Her album Unexpected Shadows earned a 2022 Grammy® nomination for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.
Learn more about Jamie…
2022 GRAMMY® NOMINEE
BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM
Unexpected Shadows
with Jake Heggie and Matt Haimovitz
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!
Behind-the-scenes video of “The Slow Seconds” from The Work at Hand
“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
"Jamie Barton has an obvious affinity for strong, confident and outspoken women — both on and off the operatic stage. Perhaps that’s because, well, she’s one herself."
San Francisco Chronicle
Next Engagement
OPÉRA NATIONAL DE PARIS
Baba the Turk
The Rake’s Progress
Nov 30; Dec 4, 8m, 10, 12, 17, 23, 2024
Paris • France
HOUSE DEBUT
"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."
Opera Magazine
In The News
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.
“I feel that promoting and celebrating love in all its forms is something we can all get behind.”
Jamie Barton
