Recital Tour with Jake Heggie (Spring 2021)

Schubert Club

“It took no more than a dozen notes, one line of text, to recognize that Jamie Barton possesses a rare voice. The opening moments of Wednesday's Schubert Club International Artist Series recital showed her also to be a musician of great confidence and courage. With her powerful mezzo-soprano voice unaccompanied, she sang of a prisoner on death row rediscovering his love of music.

At the piano was the song's composer, Jake Heggie, best known for the most popular of 21st-century operas, "Dead Man Walking." Yet to call this livestreamed recital from an empty Ordway Concert Hall a celebration of music itself sounds too frivolous for what was on offer. This was an evening of songs that spoke not only of a love of music, but of a passionate connection to it, an urgent need for it, a painful separation from it.

Yes, it was "virtual," but the concert's emotional impact was disarmingly palpable. Designed by Barton and Heggie to address much of what the pandemic has taken from us, it was a warm and intimate evening with two artists who clearly enjoy working together. There was humor, playfulness, captivating drama and touching grief. And the chief delivery device was Barton's magnificent voice.

Hers is an instrument with exceptional range, and she can seemingly employ power or delicacy from its highest point to its lowest. Franz Schubert's "Gretchen am Spinnrade" became a miniature opera in Barton's fierce interpretation, the narrator recounting a seduction with desperation and yearning. And four songs by 20th-century American composer Florence Price — who's experiencing a welcome renaissance — were fine showcases for Barton's storytelling skills and impeccable vocal control.”

–Ron Hubbard, Star Tribune