A pair of National Council Audition winners, Angela Meade and Jamie Barton, teamed up for Norma and brought the house down with a performance for the ages. Meade and Barton sing one more performance together on Monday, October 28.
Angela Meade and Jamie Barton in Norma
Listen to an audio clip of “Sì, fino all’ore estreme”:
The New York Times says of the pair: “Blazing on Thursday evening, they are a duo that every opera lover should hear…” Read the full review.
Alex Ross, critic for The New Yorker, said on his blog:
“Angela Meade and Jamie Barton both delivered tremendous performances in last night’s Norma….To see these young artists reveling together in their voices makes you believe unswervingly in the future of the art.”
Read more from Alex Ross
The New York Times’ Michael Cooper (@coopnytimes) tweeted:
“Big ovations for Angela Meade’s Norma (@SoprAngela) and Jamie Barton’s Adalgisa (@jbartonmezzo) from the Met audience tonight.”
See a photo gallery of these two rising stars from last night’s Norma:
- Angela Meade as Norma
- Aleksandrs Antonenko (Pollione) and Jamie Barton (Adalgisa)
- Angela Meade and Jamie Barton as Norma and Adalgisa
- Angela Meade and Aleksandrs Antonenko
- Jamie Barton as Adalgisa
- Ievgen Orlov as Oroveso and Angela Meade as Norma
I was there last night and agree with the rave reviews. Amazing singing from two very young artists.
I don’t see a way to tweet this informative blog post, I think you should add that.
This is hardly old style pandemonium. They have too much flutter, maybe in the house they sound better but on this clip they are frankly talented amateurs. Bel canto means even and beautiful emission not this, notes sharp, off, ugly, fluttering. Barton is yelling top and the best note for meade is the only one without flutter the extreme top note. happy to see women of some weight given some chance to be heard, but this is not Norma.
Talented – amazingly. Amateurs – that they are loving what they are doing comes blazingly across. I’ve never heard anything to top this performance and I’ve been around a bit. And what has their weight got to do with anything?
yes, I am afraid, that sounds like a lot of flutter, and yelling on Barton’s part. But that was a pretty damn good Norma from a young artist. I must say. I think she will follow in the footsteps that all too few have done and mature in the role. I heard enough that makes me believe this.
It was a spectacular peformance
When I hear two such superb voices I know that the future of opera is an excellent one. Barton and Meade are exceptional!
It is much better than Radanovsky and Aldrich who were not well paired.
Jamie Barton is certainly one of the best young singers around.