Vocal Recital: Jamie Barton & Amber Wagner
The winner of the 2015 Richard Tucker Award, the winner of both the Main and the Song Prizes at the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, a winner of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a Grammy nominee, American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton has been described by The Guardian as “a great artist, no question, with an imperturbable steadiness of tone, and a nobility of utterance that invites comparison not so much with her contemporaries as with mid-20th century greats such as Kirsten Flagstad.”
Jamie Barton’s 2015-2016 season opens with a house debut at Seattle Opera as Fenena in Nabucco, a role that will also serve as her Royal Opera House Covent Garden debut. This fall, she will return to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, bringing her celebrated Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena to the Met stage. Other major house debuts include LA Opera as Adalgisa in Norma and Washington National Opera as Waltraute and 2nd Norn in Götterdämmerung. She will make role debuts as Cornelia in Giulio Cesare at Oper Frankfurt and as Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible at Glimmerglass Opera. Ms. Barton will make her BBC Proms debut with Marin Alsop and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at Royal Albert Hall, before appearing as the 2015 Richard Tucker Award Winner at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala at Lincoln Center. Other concert engagements include a debut with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and returns to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Ars Lyrica Houston. In recital, Ms. Barton will appear with San Francisco Performances, Ann Arbor’s University Musical Society, Vocal Arts DC, Baylor Distinguished Artist Series, Seattle Opera's Wagner and More, and the Tucson Desert Song Festival. Future projects include a debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as returns to Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Opera.
The 2014-2015 season began with a debut at San Francisco Opera as Adalgisa in Norma, followed by a return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago in a new role, Giovanna Seymour inAnna Bolena. Ms. Barton returned to the Houston Grand Opera as Fricka in Die Walküre and made her house and role debut as Azucena in Il Trovatore with the Cincinnati Opera. Concert engagements included the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s The Work at Hand with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Verdi Requiem with the Toronto Symphony and Sir Andrew Davis. As the 2014 recipient of the Marian Anderson Award, Ms. Barton appeared in recital at the Kennedy Center. Further recital dates included Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, Worcester, MA, Frankfurt, Germany and a benefit for the Wolf Trap Foundation.
The 2013-2014 season included a triumphant return to the Metropolitan Opera as Adalgisa in Norma, and to the Houston Grand Opera as Fricka in Das Rheingold as well as as Katisha in Opera Memphis’ The Mikado. In the summer, Ms. Barton made her Japanese debut as Meg Page in a new production of Falstaff at the Saito Kinen Festival. In concert, she sang the Verdi Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony and Sir Andrew Davis, Britten’s "Spring Symphony" with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst, a Concert of Verdi Arias and Ensembles at the Lanaudière Festival with Jean-Marie Zeitouni and Elgar’s Sea Pictures at the Aspen Music Festival. Last, but not least, Ms. Barton was heard in recital in Pace University’s new series as well as at Atlanta’s prestigious Spivey Hall before returning to Carnegie Hall for Marilyn Horne’s 80th birthday gala celebration.
The 2012-2013 season saw her return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Magdalene in a new production of Die Meistersinger conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. In concert, Ms. Barton made her UK debut at the Barbican Centre performing Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra followed by Mozart’s Requiem with the Atlanta Sacred Chorale and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. In recital she appeared with tenor Russell Thomas and the Atlanta Vocal Arts Society, as well as in the role of Julia Child in Bon Appétit! as part of the first annual Chamber Opera Festival with Opera Memphis. Prior to that, Ms. Barton made her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in productions of Les Contes d’Hoffmann (voice of the Mother), Boris Godunov (Nurse), and Ariadne auf Naxos (Dryade), followed by Grandma Josephine and Mrs.Teavee in The Golden Ticket with Atlanta Opera and 2nd Norn in Götterdämmerung with the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich. Recently Ms. Barton returned to record Scarlatti’s La Dirindinawith Ars Lyrica Houston.
In recent seasons she has performed Second Lady in The Magic Flute with the Metropolitan Opera, Mère Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites with the Bayerische Staatsoper, appeared in productions of Faust and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Last Savage with Santa Fe Opera, and Emilia in Otello with the Canadian Opera Company. Concert appearances include: Bernstein’s Opening Prayer and Jeremiah Symphony with the Colorado Symphony under Marin Alsop, Domenico Scarlatti’s rarely performed comic intermezzo La Dirindina with Ars Lyrica Houston (Music of the Baroque), Mozart’s Requiem with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under Edo de Waart, Schubert’s Mass No. 6 with San Diego Symphony and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Omaha Symphony. In recital she appeared with the Vocal Arts Society at the Kennedy Center, under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, as well as Carnegie Hall as part of their Great Singers III: Evenings of Song series. She also appeared as a guest soloist in the Marilyn Horne Foundation Gala at Carnegie Hall.
A former member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Ms. Barton appeared as Ursula in Béatrice et Bénédict, Giovanna in Rigoletto, and Mary Norton in the world premiere of André Previn’s Brief Encounter. With the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis she performed Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro. With the Wolf Trap Opera Company she performed the role of Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, as well as a series of recitals with pianist Steve Blier. With the Aspen Music Festival, Ms. Barton appeared as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel as well as a recital with bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, and a concert of Bernstein/Bruce Coughlin: Arias and Barcarolles with the Aspen Chamber Symphony.
An avid recitalist, Ms. Barton has appeared with the Marilyn Horne Foundation at Weill Hall with tenor Russell Thomas as well as a solo recital with On Wings of Song. She made her Spivey Hall debut singing Brahms’ "Alto Rhapsody", which was also broadcast on NPR. Ms. Barton has received extensive training as a recitalist at the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was a Fellow in Vocal Studies for the summers of 2006 and 2007. At the Tanglewood Music Center, she worked with such artists and coaches as James Levine, Dawn Upshaw, Phyllis Curtin, Kayo Iwama, Ira Siff, Lucy Shelton, Alan Smith, and Olly Wilson. As a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, she participated in several recital series including the popular “Recital at Rienzi.”
Additional concert performances include the world premiere of Chris Theofanidis’s The Refuge with the Houston Grand Opera, Duruflé’s Requiem, Bach’s Cantata 197 with the ensemble Kammerbach, Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, Honegger’s King David, and Mozart’s Requiem.
A graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Ms. Barton attended Indiana University in Bloomington, where she performed roles such as Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Buttercup in HMS Pinafore, and Mrs. Soames in the 2006 world premiere of Ned Rorem's Our Town.
American soprano Amber Wagner is a winner of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals and was featured in the documentary film “The Audition,” which opened to audiences nationwide in 2009. Chosen by OPERA NEWS as one of twenty-five artists poised to break out and become a major force in classical music in the coming decade, she has been praised for her “gleaming, ample and effortless sound” and “gorgeous, creamy tone… This is one remarkable voice” (Chicago Tribune).
Highlights of Amber Wagner’s 2015-2016 season include a debut at Minnesota Opera in the title role of Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Michael Christie, a role she will reprise later in the season for her company debut with Palm Beach Opera. She performs Verdi’s Requiem with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico, and with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Asher Fisch, as well as a concert of select Wagner works with the Minnesota Orchestra, also conducted by Asher Fisch. Finally, Ms. Wagner appears in recital with mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton under the auspices of the Tucson Desert Song Festival and Arizona Opera.
In the 2014-2015 season, Ms. Wagner returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago for a role debut as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore conducted by Asher Fisch, and as Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, and she also returned to the roster of the Metropolitan Opera. Highlights of her orchestral engagements included Verdi’s Requiem for her debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice conducted by Philippe Auguin, and the Houston Symphony conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada, an all-Wagner program with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Russian National Orchestra at the Napa Valley Festival del Sole, and Senta in a concert performance of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, conducted by James Conlon.
Highlights of Ms. Wagner’s recent operatic engagements include her European debut with the Prague State Opera as Brangäne in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde conducted by Jan Latham Koenig; appearances as Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin with Lyric Opera of Chicago conducted by Sir Andrew Davis; her company debut as Elsa and a role debut as Senta in Der fliegende Holländer with the Savonlinna Opera Festival; a role and house debut as Leonora in Verdi’s La forza del destino at Washington National Opera in a new production directed by Francesca Zambello; her Metropolitan Opera debut as Anna in Verdi’s Nabucco, followed by her return as Amelia in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera conducted by Fabio Luisi; the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos at Lyric Opera of Chicago and in concert performances at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, both conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, as well as with the Canadian Opera Company; and Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre at Oper Frankfurt conducted by Sebastian Weigle.
Symphonic highlights include Verdi’s Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony under Sir Andrew Davis, as well as with the Taipei Symphony, Pacific Chorale, Kansas City Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and Grant Park Music Festival; Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco, Spokane Symphony, and Oregon Symphony conducted by Carlos Kalmar; a concert of Strauss songs with L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice conducted by Philippe Auguin; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Aspen Music Festival conducted by Robert Spano; Sieglinde in Act 1 in concert performances of Die Walküre with the Colorado Symphony conducted by Christian Arming; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Grant Park Music Festival and Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Oregon Symphony, both under the baton of Carlos Kalmar. Ms. Wagner also participated in the Metropolitan Opera’s summer concert series in Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City, and in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Millennium Park concert, where she sang excerpts from Cavalleria Rusticana.
Ms. Wagner is a winner of the Liederkranz Foundation Competition, and recipient of the Richard Tucker Career Grant Award, Kirsten Flagstad Award from the George London Foundation, and Sullivan Foundation Career Grant. She is also the first place winner of the Palm Beach Opera and Palm Springs Opera Guild Competitions, winner of the Lynne Harvey Scholarship from the Musicians Club of Women, and winner of the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Competition. Ms. Wagner is a native of Oregon.