“[As Léonor] Barton sang with rich, round tone and tapered her powerful, wide-ranging mezzo-soprano for some lovely diminuendos and pianissimos. Like her colleagues she threw in an extra high note here and a modest embellishment there and acted with dignity and poise, no mean feat in this production.”

‘Both musicians think big and presented Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos with an almost Straussian weight and pace. This was a moment as significant in its way as Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla’s debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra: uninhibited
and fully focused.’

‘There’s her voice, the kind of sumptuous velvet-and-steel mezzo-soprano that fills an auditorium seemingly as easily as opening the mouth, used with sharp intelligence.’

“Jamie Barton was a cackling, sarcastic Ježibaba”

“A big success was scored by this year’s star guest, American mezzo Jamie Barton. As well as singing Bizet and Saint-Saëns with a gloriously rich voice, and bringing tears to the eyes with Over the Rainbow, she waved her own flag for bisexuality – literally so at the end, when she picked up a huge Pride flag and went off holding it aloft.”

“[in Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos] She essayed the tragic emotions of the final aria in her glorious, richly coloured lower register, while delivering the concluding presto with blazing intensity…Acerba voluttà from Adriana Lecouvreur was sung with fiery authority and supreme technical command…it was a powerful reminder that Barton is a natural creature of the operatic stage and one of its brightest stars.”

“Barton’s dramatic performance, vivid and arresting with a profusion of expressive facial gestures, infused her character with sympathy, warmth, awkwardness, sorrow, and strength”

“Jamie Barton deployed her opulent mezzo-soprano to eloquent effect as Fricka, the Second Norn and the Götterdämmerung Waltraute.”

“A performance rich in pathos and cloaked in the thickly upholstered vocal colours that make her singing so irresistible.”

“As Sara, Jamie Barton deployed her velvety, richly-coloured mezzo with beauty and urgency to limn the character’s desire and anguish.”

“The role of Sara is almost pure bel canto, and Barton’s floating melodic lines was nonpareil.”

“Jamie Barton was a molten-voiced goddess…[she] brought verve and tonal warmth to the role of Fricka”

“Jamie Barton proves she has vocal balls of steel, delivering a Fricka of power and considerable subtlety…The voice is creamy, but when the top notes fly, the audience is pinned to their seats.”

“Jamie Barton was the best [of the cast], and the star of the evening, elevating the mezzo role of Princess Eboli from vengeful femme fatale to a wounded but sympathetic courtier, both perpetrator and victim of the palace’s sexual intrigue. Her Veil Song was coy and sultry, and the showstopping ​“O don fatale” was a magnificent study in how an unhinged mind can still gather itself to a moral purpose.”

“Fortunately, Norma’s emotional journey is supported by mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, in fine voice as the novice priestess Adalgisa. The women’s duets, in particular ​“Mira o Norma”, provide the most thrilling and memorable moments.”

“Jamie Barton, in magnificently imposing voice”

“Jamie Barton delivered the climactic Lamentation, her rich mezzo alternately oracular and caressing”

“her voice shines most in the higher range, and in her much applauded debut at the Real – and in this particular opera – she has left an unbeatable impression.”

“Debuting with an already fully developed interpretation, the justly deserved standout among the cast was the American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, who offered a magnificent Leonor. She has a big, velvety voice with an extensive range, but that’s also delicate, with an attractive timbre and impeccable placement…All this was on stupendous display in her interpretation of Leonor’s grand scena in the second act, ​“O mon Fernand””

“Anyone who watched Jamie Barton sail serenely to victory at 2013’s Cardiff Singer of the World competition will know what a fine signer she is. This debut recital from Delos only underlines the fact. The voice is rich, generous and vibrant, big but beautifully controlled, impeccably smooth throughout its range. It’s the sort of instrument you could listen to all day, in any sort of repertoire. She’s an intelligent, sensitive musician too, and evidently a good programme-builder, here offering Dvorak and Sibelius to complement her Mahler. It’s all extremely impressive…The disc’s highlight is the Sibelius, in which the mezzo pours her heart into grand, soaring accounts of some of the composer’s most seductive songs…This really is an exciting talent, and a terrific disc.”

“In fact, Wagner’s characters all feel human here. Fricka, Wotan’s wife, sung with molten tone by Jamie Barton, isn’t the traditional harridan, but sober and wounded.”

“A gorgeous [recital disc] debut from the 2013 Cardiff Singer of the World. Her rich soulful mezzo draws out Mahler’s dark colours and soars in Sibelius’s snowy miniatures.”

“The real marvel of the cast was Jamie Barton, who was absolutely sensational as the sorceress Jezibaba. Her voice was a wonder in itself, a full, shady mezzo with harrowing power, and fierce fire in her chest. Of everyone in the cast, she had the most success in navigating the cartoonish aesthetic of the production, hamming it up just enough to embrace the comic elements of the role, but never forgetting its essential darkness. Barton brings tremendous presence to the stage, coupled here with a specific and deliciously wicked vocal characterization.”

“Jamie Barton gobbled the lusty-nasty-witchy flailings of Jezibaba.”

“Jamie Barton’s devilish Jezibaba was the highlight. Surrounded by half-human, half-animal henchmen, Barton brought such electric charisma that it was hard not to find affection for the wily sorceress.”

“A mezzo-soprano from the Deep South, she has already made her mark at the Met and Covent Garden, and her Wigmore Hall debut was ecstatically acclaimed…Barton has excellent technique, evenly spanning a cavernous lower register and a gleaming top; her breath control is apparently effortless, she sings perfectly in tune. There’s something about Marilyn Horne about the silver sheen and focus of the tone, but the voice is bigger and broader than Horne’s, and more than capable of firing the big guns demanded by Verdi and Wagner. She is also a born communicator, smiley and chatty and radiating infectious pleasure in the glorious noise she makes.”

“What a voice…a true force of nature. Her mezzo is rich, smooth, creamy, voluminous, even up and down the scale, and used with style, taste and musicality.”

“Making her Royal Opera debut as Nabucco’s true daughter, the American mezzo Jamie Barton uncovered a good deal more in Fenena, impressing with her warmth and richness of tone matched by a purposeful line and convincing dramatic engagement.”

“Jamie Barton is a first-rate Fenena”

“Jamie Barton [was] mellifluous [as] Fenena. Barton’s Act 4 preghiera was arguably the most touching piece of singing all evening.”

“As Norma’s acolyte, Adalgisa, Jamie Barton made her L.A. Opera debut…providing an indelible demonstration of why the young mezzo-soprano has become the latest darling of the American opera scene. Her sound is the darkly creamy lager tha poured forth from altos of yore. Yet she displays the craft of a superior modern singer, which includes accuracy of intonation, alertness to rhythm and fine articulation.”

“Her voice exuded a buttery warmth and sumptuous tone.”

“[Anna Bolena] had a splendid foil and partner in the voluptuous-voiced mezzo Jamie Barton as Giovanna Seymour…their revelation scene in Act II was a thrilling high point of the evening.”

“The superb mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton sings Giovanna (Jane)…[her] sumptuous voice has utterly unforced carrying power. In head-to-head exchanges with Anna, Ms. Barton’s Giovanna held her own, trading fiery phrases and bursts of skittish passagework. Yet she was even more affecting during tender moments…[where she] demonstrated how to send a long-lined Donizetti phrase wafting through the house. At 33, she seems poised for greatness.”

“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.”

“Internationally acclaimed recipient of the 2015 Richard Tucker Award, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton gave an excellent performance…and stole the show.”

“peerless mezzo Jamie Barton [portrays] everything about the character of Fricka in that bathed-in-fire voice”

“During her recital debut at Zankel Hall, she exuded immense likability and down-to-earth charm…The program, featuring songs in Spanish, French, German and Czech, as well as the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s three-song cycle ​“The Work at Hand,” showcased Ms. Barton’s versatility…Ms. Barton’s voluptuous voice, dusky and scintillating, with each note animated by an interplay of richly shaded overtones, was well served by the Chausson selections. Here, the languidly unfolding melodies created sufficient space for her to play with a mesmerizing array of tone colors. In ​“Hébé,” she was able to thin out her voice on the final word, ​“divin,” in a way that maintained its lustrous sheen. The broody melancholy of ​“Le temps des lilas” (“The Time of Lilacs”) made the most of her dark low register.”