Barton is ‘a big believer in trying to help others feel like they’re not alone’

Boston Globe
January 2025

At present, Barton is preparing for this month’s chamber concert tour with violist Matthew Lipman and pianist Tamar Sanikidze, which arrives at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall on Jan. 25 in a performance presented by Celebrity Series of Boston. 

When the singer is managing her ADHD-induced hyper-focus, she feels like it’s “a superpower,” but “a tricky one,” she said. “It took me a long time to understand what was going on up in my noggin, but I’m really glad I do now. It really, actually helps me understand why procrastination is a part of my life in a major way, and how to work with it.”

Before she was formally diagnosed a few years ago, “there were days I would sit down at the piano — usually very close to a gig when I absolutely had to learn the music — and eight hours would go by without me noticing. But that also meant that I wasn’t moving my body, or giving myself time to go to the bathroom, or remembering to eat, or doing all those sorts of things.”

She doesn’t flinch at talking about those struggles in public, for the same reason that she doesn’t shy away from talking about matters related to queerness and/or politics: “I’m just a big believer in trying to help others feel like they’re not alone,” said Barton, who joyfully waved a rainbow flag onstage while performing at the BBC’s widely broadcast Last Night of the Proms in 2019.

April will bring Barton back to Boston in a different capacity, as she takes on the role of Nettie Fowler (singer of “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone”) in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel”. As the first musical theater role in her professional career, it feels like a full-circle moment for Barton.

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