Vocal finesse shone from the Alto Rhapsody too, thanks to the wonderful American mezzo Jamie Barton. That joyfully dark, voluptuous and steady voice sucked us in from the first worried note to the last breath of emollient calm…

Jamie Barton, an international prizewinner of considerable renown, is dazzling as Fenena, with a showstopper Act IV aria that displayed the lyricism and agility of this remarkable voice…

At the opera's center is the Gypsy, Azucena, who has seen her own mother burned at the stake. Thursday was Barton's first outing in this role, and it seems ideal for her out-sized, rich mezzo-soprano, with its arresting color in the lower range…

The soloists were all first rate. Jamie Barton’s gleaming mezzo and exemplary legato was such a pleasure – no wonder she took Cardiff! Her Liber Scriptus, Quid sum miser, and Lux Eterna were all amazing…

The work had a profound emotional intelligence, matching and uniting music and text. Ms. Barton’s crystalline voice was an effortless, inevitable extension of herself…

Peerless mezzo Jamie Barton [is the] unloved Fricka. Everything about the character is portrayed by that bathed-in-fire voice: Fricka's imperiousness, jealousy, and unyielding ego. It's there in every phrase…

Barton’s rich voice, wondrous high notes and immaculate diction detail a hilarious — and at the same time horrifying — list of the drug’s side effects…

Barton wonderfully evokes the spirit of whatever she sings without having to 'act'; it is evident that the dreams and passions of those of whom she sings flow through her blood intertwined with the music. She is an honest and profound communicator, and one who touches the hearts as well as the ears of those who listen to her in a truly special way…

Alsop chose wisely in mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, who pleaded mournfully...but also had the clarion power to soar above the massive choral and instrumental forces in the fifth movement…