Vocal Arts DC Presents Jamie Barton With Jake Heggie

On Wednesday, April 6 at 7:30pm, Vocal Arts DC presents mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton with composer-pianist Jake Heggie in concert at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. This program will include selections by Henry Purcell, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, and Florence Price.

Additionally, the performance will include selections from the Grammy nominated album Unexpected Shadows, which Barton and Heggie put out on Pentatones Classics in 2020. Those selections will include: "Music" (with lyrics by Sister Helen Prejean, author and protagonist of Dead Man Walking), the short song cycle Of Gods & Cats, (set to poems by Gavin Dillard), and the cycle Iconic Legacies: First Ladies at the Smithsonian, (set to poems by Gene Scheer). Iconic Legacies was first commissioned by Vocal Arts in 2015 to open the organization's 25th anniversary season and was received with a standing ovation. Finally, The duo will present the DC premiere of the cycle, What I Miss the Most, set to lyrics by Joyce DiDonato, Sister Helen Prejean, Patti LuPone, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Kathleen Kelly.

Critically acclaimed by virtually every major outlet covering classical music, American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is increasingly recognized for how she uses her powerful instrument offstage-lifting up women, queer people, and other marginalized voices. Ms. Barton was named 2020 Personality of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards, and is also the winner of the Richard Tucker Award, the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and a Grammy nomination. In the 2021-2022 season, Ms. Barton made her hotly anticipated title role debut in Carmenat Chicago Opera Theater and a return to The Metropolitan Opera as Eboli in a new production of Verdi's Don Carlos.

Jake Heggie, is a Guggenheim Fellow and the composer of the operas Dead Man Walking, Moby-Dick, It's A Wonderful Life, If I Were You, and many others. In addition, Heggie has composed nearly 300 art songs, as well as concerti, chamber music, choral and orchestral works. He recently completed and recorded Songs for Murdered Sisters, a song cycle based on new poems by Margaret Atwood, created for baritone Joshua Hopkins and commissioned by Houston Grand Opera. Heggie has worked with myriad internationally renowned opera singers, Broadway performers and acclaimed musicians, and is currently at work with Gene Scheer and Jawole Zollar on a new opera for the Houston Grand Opera titled Intelligence.

"Jamie Barton and Jake Heggie make music together in a way that is completely beguiling and infectious," says Vocal Arts DC General Director Peter Russell. "It is an honor to welcome them back to our organization for the first time since our 25th anniversary season in the autumn of 2015, and I know their program will be a joyous occasion."

To ensure health and security, as well as the safety of performers, audience and staff, the Kennedy Center requires proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 and a valid photo ID. Unvaccinated children under 12 years of age and patrons with a medical condition or a closely-held religious belief that prevents vaccination, must provide either proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test conducted no more than 72 hours prior to attending an indoor performance or proof of a professionally administered Antigen test conducted no more than 6 hours prior to attending an indoor performance. Masks are required at all times for all patrons and visitors regardless of vaccination status in all indoor spaces at the Kennedy Center.

Tickets for the concert are $50 and are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office. Run time for the recital is approximately one hour and thirty minutes, including an intermission. Charge by phone at 202-467-4600 and purchase online at: https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/explore-by-genre/vocal-choral-music/2021-2022/vadc-barton-heggie-r/.

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