Jamie Barton to Continue SFP Art of Song Series

Mezzo Jamie Barton (photograph by Fay Fox, courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

Next month San Francisco Performances (SFP) will present the second of the four recitals in its The Art of Song Series. The vocalist will be mezzo Jamie Barton accompanied by pianist Kathleen Kelly. Kelly will be making her SFP debut, while Barton gave her first SFP recital in the Young Masters Series in December of 2015. By that time her reputation in San Francisco had already been established in September of 2014 when, on the opening night of the San Francisco Opera (SFO) season, she replaced Daveda Karana in the role of Adalgisa in Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma. Her most recent SFO appearance took place this past June, when she sang the role of the witch Ježibaba in Antonín Dvořák’s opera Rusalka; and while she was “in town,” she also provided a surprise encore for the final season concert given by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony.

The program she has prepared for her return to SFP will bring a uniquely personal and feminist perspective focusing on women composers such as Elinor Remick Warren, Lili Boulanger, Amy Beach, Libby Larsen and Nadia Boulanger. However, in the interest of “equal opportunity,” the program will also include male composers from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. The eighteenth-century selection will be Joseph Haydn’s single-movement secular cantata “Arianna a Naxos” (Hoboken XXVIb/2). The nineteenth-century selections will be the original (1889) version of “Phidylé” by Henri Duparc and “Cäcilie,” the second song in Richard Strauss’ Opus 27 collection. Maurice Ravel will represent the twentieth century with the drinking song that concludes his Don Quichotte à Dulcinée song cycle, originally composed for baritone and orchestra.

This recital will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 11. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, located on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. Ticket prices are $70, $55, and $45. Tickets may be purchased in advance online from a City Box Office event page, which includes a seating plan with information about availability in the different sections of Herbst.