The kind of sumptuous velvet-and-steel mezzo-soprano that fills an auditorium seemingly as easily as opening the mouth, used with sharp intelligence…

Her singing captivated in the warm reminiscences of the “Rather Sad” memories, showing a rich, softly pulsing caramel tone…

The divine operatic mezzo Jamie Barton was allowed to pretty much run away with the show…

A blistering “O don fatale” in which her epic searing high C-flat singed my ears [was] greeted by the loudest roars of the night…

She achieves a rare standard of beauty: an even, rich voice across a broad range; easy, unfussy legato and richly expressive declamation…

I have never seen a performer unite a crowd so immediately and powerfully…

A sonic sculpture with dazzling beauty, as sung ineffably by the ethereal mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton…

Barton combined spiteful black magic with a tinge of grandmotherly compassion in a performance whose vocal shadings supported all that dramatic complexity…

Barton turned Duparc’s ‘Phydilé’ into a ravishing piece of shimmering gold… [with] ‘Acerba voluttà’ from Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur showing Italianate verismo fire, and power to spare.

Barton’s portrayal of Fricka was brilliantly purposeful and vocally commanding. Her flamboyant mezzo-soprano, with its inky depths and flickering hues, rendered the character as guardian of legal integrity. But, in the surprisingly tender tone in which she passes the responsibility on to Brünnhilde, she hinted at a deeper sense of not only the futility, but also the undesirability of being proved right…