Opera Singer Jamie Barton Performs Atlanta Recital
City Lights
September 2015
Opera singer Jamie Barton is one of Georgia’s greatest talents.
A Rome native and Atlanta resident, the mezzo-soprano won the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 2013 and the Richard Tucker Award earlier this year. She has graced opera houses and recital halls around the globe.
Barton is gearing up for her role as Giovanna Seymour in “Anna Bolena” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, but she is also performing a new recital program in Atlanta next week.
Barton spoke with "City Lights" executive producer Noel Morris about what she will be singing.
“It’s kind of a pastiche of some of my favorite composers,” Barton said. The diverse repertoire includes pieces by Torina, Chausson and Rachmaninoff. “It’s really a wonderful tapas menu of music.”
Barton will also be performing Dvorak’s “Gypsy Songs.” She said, “I built the recital around these songs because I wanted to perform them so badly."
“Gypsy Songs” includes seven different pieces. The most well known of the songs is “Songs My Mother Taught Me.”
Barton will perform the songs in Czech, though poet Adolf Heyduk also wrote a German version.
“This is the first Czech I’ve ever done,” Barton said. “But the more I go back and look at the music, the more singer-friendly it is ... [Now], it just makes absolute sense.”
Barton’s recital will be held at the All Saints’ Episcopal Church at 7:30 p.m. Monday.