Singer & Leader in EL RELICARIO DE LOS ANIMALES

Long Beach Opera

“A singular presence entered from outside, slowly, dramatically walking towards the stage in the centre. It looked a lot like the mezzo Jamie Barton. Dressed in a flowing black, chainmail-like gown, her entrance suggested she was the maestra or high priestess of this event. Taking the stage after a long-drawn-out pause (scored only by rustling palm branches), she let out an ‘operatic yawp’. A giant bolt of sound—no words, no coherent notes—just an unleashing of sonic force. It was indeed Jamie Barton, last heard here in LA as a fierce Adalgisa in LA Opera’s Norma a decade ago. For the next 30 or 40 minutes (as time seemed to stop while we were all huddled in this rustic space) these musicians and singers riffed, sang, grunted, slithered about the stage and each other. It was primal, it was dramatic, and yes, it felt like opera, despite the lack of arias or even words. When Barton and Rae were both wailing away in the centre of this space, it was like a pair of female Scarpias sizing each other up, raptors eyeing their prey. The overall effect of the music and performance was feral and alive—as though we were witnessing some wild, natural occurrence that happens only deep in jungles far away from human beings.”
–Opera Magazine

“Ensemble was superb… But the heart and soul of the LBO’s performance was mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton (the designated Vocalist in Oliveros’ score). As Mother Earth, she stood at the mandala’s raised center, leading the call-and-response proceedings by voice, meditational cue, and charismatic expressiveness.”
–Classical Voice North America

“…The most radical performance ever to begin an audacious season included a performance by a noted mezzo-soprano, Jamie Barton, that already sets a high standard for operatic performance of the young year. The sounds, those seductively embracing and those frightfully howling in the wind, became an acknowledged life in all its strangeness, the animal kingdom as counselor to our uncertainties, indulgences and differences.”
–Los Angeles Times