© Benjamin Ealovega
CLAIRE BARNETT-JONES
MEZZO-SOPRANO
British mezzo-soprano Claire Barnett-Jones was a Finalist and Winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021. Recent highlights include her role and company debuts as Fricka Die Walküre at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, and as Madame Flora The Medium for Oper Frankfurt, and Sosostris A Midsummer Marriage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Edward Gardner.
She begins the 2022-23 season singing Jezibaba in a new production of Rusalka at the Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse.
News
BBC Proms 2022: solo recital debut
This summer Claire closes her 21-22 season making her solo recital debut at the BBC Proms 2022, as part their series of events across the UK. For the first time in history the Proms will be bringing concerts to every UK nation within their annual chamber concert season.
Performing alongside pianist Simon Lepper, on Monday 29 August 2022, Claire can be heard at the Bradshaw Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire to perform a programme of British composers, including works by Joseph Horovitz, Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke, Vaughan Williams and the world premiere of BBC commissioned piece by British composer Errollyn Wallen - Lady Super Spy Adventurer.
Looking ahead into the new season, Claire makes her French operatic debut, singing Jezibaba in a new production of Rusalka at the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, and returns to English National Opera to join the cast of their Platinum Jubilee concert performance of Britten’s Gloriana.
Further information on Claire's recital can be found on the BBC Proms website here.
Posted 17/08/2022.
Media
Video
Audio
Repertoire Includes
OPERA
BERKELEY
A Dinner Engagement (HRH The Grand Duchess of Monteblanco)
BIRTWISTLE
Mask of Orpheus (Eurydice Myth/Persephone)
G CHARPENTIER
Louise (Gertrude/La Bayleuse,)
DVORAK
Rusalka (Jezibaba)
HUMPERDINCK
Hansel und Gretel (Hexe/Mother)
JANACEK
Cunning Little Vixen (Mrs Paskova/Innkeepers Wife/Lapak the Dog)
MONTEVERDI
L'incoronazione di Poppea (Ottavia)
MOZART
Le Nozze di Figaro (Marcellina)
PUCCINI
Suor Angelica (La Zia Principessa)
Gianni Schicchi (Zita)
Madama Butterfly (Suzuki)
PURCELL
Dido and Aeneas (Dido, Sorceress)
RIMSKY KORSAKOV
May Night (Sister in Law)
STOCKHAUSEN
Mittwoch Aus Licht, Welt Parliament (Alto 1)
STRAUSS
Ariadne auf Naxos (Dryad)
Der Rosenkavalier (Annina/2nd Noble Orphan)
STRAVINSKY
The Rake’s Progress (Baba the Turk)
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Riders to the Sea (Maurya)
VERDI
La Traviata (Annina/Flora)
Luisa Miller (Federica)
WAGNER
Das Rheingold (Fricka/Wellgunde)
Der Fliegender Hollander (Mary)
Die Walkure (Fricka/Waltraute/Rossweisse)
Concert
BACH
Easter Oratorio
Magnificat
Mass in B Minor
St Matthew Passion
St John Passion
Christmas Oratorio
BRITTEN
Charm of Lullabies
Phaedra
BEETHOVEN
Missa Solemnis
Symphony No. 9
Choral Fantasy
BERLIOZ
L’enfance du Christ
BRAHMS
Alto Rhapsody
Viola Songs
BRUCKNER
Mass No.3 in F minor
DURUFLE
Requiem
DVOŘÁK
Stabat Mater
Requiem
ELGAR
The Apostles
The Dream of Gerontius
Sea Pictures
The Kingdom
The Music Makers
HANDEL
Dixit Dominus
Israel in Egypt
Messiah
Semele
Solomon
Theodora
HAYDN
Nelson Mass
Mass in Time of War
Great Organ Mass
KODALY
Te Deum
LALANDE
Te Deum
MAHLER
Das Lied von der Erde
Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen
Rückert Lieder
Symphony No.2
Symphony No.3
Symphony No.8
MENDELSSOHN
Elijah
MOZART
Coronation Mass
Mass in C
Requiem
Vespers
PERGOLESI
Stabat Mater
RAVEL
Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé
RESPIGHI
Il Tramonto
ROSSINI
Petite Messe Solennelle
Stabat Mater
RUTTER
Feel the Spirit
SCHUMANN
Dichterliebe
Szenen aus Goethe’s Faust
TIPPETT
A Child of our Time
Lieder Eines Fahrenheit Gesellen
VERDI
Requiem
VIVALDI
Gloria
WAGNER
Wesendonck Lieder
Press
Wagner THE VALKYRIE / English National Opera
"Suffering from a cold, Susan Bickley acted Fricka while the mezzo-soprano Claire Barnett-Jones — one of the Valkyries — sang it, with articulate power, from the side of the stage.”
Zachary Woolfe, New York Times (November 2021)
"having two Frickas reminded us what a superb singer Barnett-Jones is becoming”
Tim Ashley, The Guardian (November 2021)
"Fricka – played by the indisposed Susan Bickley in a regal white trouser suit, but sung superbly from a side box by Claire Barnett-Jones, doubling as the Valkyrie Rossweisse"
Barry Milligton, Evening Standard (November 2021)
"Claire Barnett-Jones’ luscious mezzo made for an outstanding, incisive Fricka, sung from a box while the ailing Susan Bickley acted the role waspishly."
Mark Pullinger, Bachtrack (November 2021)
"Belting out Fricka from a box stage right, Claire Barnett Jones enjoyed a triumph on opening night in a role you could easily imagine her tackling for real. Her rich, burgundy mezzo has terrific body, and the top should gain in power with a little more experience."
Clive Paget, Limelight (November 2021)
"it was the third vocal treat of the evening, after Spence and Sherratt, to hear Claire Barnett-Jones – later singing Valkyrie Rossweise – bring lustrous Wagner-mezzo tones to the role from a box at the side."
David Nice, The Arts Desk (November 2021)
Tippett THE MIDSUMMER MARRIAGE / London Philharmonic Orchestra
"Claire Barnett-Jones as Sosostris has a challenging aria but showed clarity and drama in her rendition alongside the soaring brass crescendos”
Aliye Al-Hassan, Broadway World (September 2021)
"it was a treat to have recent Cardiff Singer alumnus Claire Barnett-Jones as an Erda-like Madame Sosostris"
Matthew Rye, Bachtrack (September 2021)
CARDIFF SINGER OF THE WORLD
"mezzo Claire Barnett-Jones showed in the earlier round where she’s heading with an impressive Waltraute’s narrative from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. There was more of that in her most successful choice for the final, the stormy third song from Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, “Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer”.
David Nice, The Arts Desk (June 2021)
"reflecting her remarkable feat in stepping in at the eleventh hour as the official reserve and winning her round. She betrayed no nerves then – no time for that – and, in this final, her Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer from Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen showed the same fearsome immediacy."
Rian Evans, The Guardian (June 2021)
DAS RHEINGOLD / Grimeborn Festival
"Barnett-Jones’ Fricka exudes emotional intelligence, yet remains vulnerable in her permanent suspicion of Wotan"
Charlotte Valori, Operissima (August 2019)
