Jamie Barton to Perform Recital with LA Opera and The Wallis
Barton and Kelly will present a program ranging from lush Romanticism to contemporary American music, including works by Libby Larsen and Melissa Dunphy.
Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton will return to LA Opera on Sunday, November 15, for a recital with pianist Kathleen Kelly at The Wallis in Beverly Hills. Barton, one of today's most acclaimed and distinctive vocal artists, makes her first appearance with the company since her 2015 LA Opera debut as Adalgisa in Norma. The recital begins at 2pm.
Earlier this year, Barton won the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for Jake Heggie's Intelligence, having created the role of Civil War spy Elizabeth Van Lew in the opera's world premiere at Houston Grand Opera. Her November 15 recital showcases the breadth of her artistry, moving from the lush Romanticism of Henri Duparc and Clara Schumann to contemporary American works by Libby Larsen and Melissa Dunphy, along with one of the mezzo-soprano repertoire's most beloved arias.
The first half opens with four songs by Duparc—“L'invitation au voyage,” “Extase,” “La vie antérieure” and “Phidylé”—followed by Clara Schumann's Six Lieder, Op. 13. Barton then turns to opera with “Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix,” Dalila's celebrated seduction aria from Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila.
After intermission, Barton and Kelly explore American music with Libby Larsen's five-song cycle Love After 1950, which draws on texts by five women poets and ranges musically from blues and torch song to honky-tonk and tango. The program continues with three songs from Melissa Dunphy's Four Poems of Nikita Gill. The afternoon concludes on a lighter note with a trio of cat-themed songs by Jake Heggie, Gabriel Kahane and Gary Schocker, followed by Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler's humorous “The Alto's Lament.”
About Jamie Barton
American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton has earned international acclaim for her rich, powerful voice and expressive artistry, as well as her advocacy for women, LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized communities. In 2013, she became the first woman to win both the Main Prize and Song Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. Her honors also include a 2026 Grammy Award, the Beverly Sills Artist Award, Richard Tucker Award and International Opera Award. She was also named BBC Music Magazine's 2020 Personality of the Year.
Barton's 2026/27 season includes her debut at Teatro alla Scala as Baba the Turk in The Rake's Progress, Ježibaba in Rusalka at the Bavarian State Opera and her role debut as Jocasta in Oedipus Rex with Norddeutscher Rundfunk. She also performs Mahler at the BBC Proms, Festival Radio France Montpellier and Berlin's Konzerthaus, and makes her debut with the Oslo Philharmonic in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius. She joins longtime collaborator Kathleen Kelly for a recital tour across the United States, including appearances with LA Opera and Seattle Opera. Her recordings include the solo album All Who Wander and Unexpected Shadows, her Grammy-nominated collaboration with composer and pianist Jake Heggie.
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