from PRX.

I'm Kurt Anderson, and this is the Studio 360 podcast.

The Mesa soprano Jamie Barton sings Wagner and Verdi with equal power and precision, and critics as well as fans have gone Gaga for her warm, robust performances.

She's a rising star in opera.

She's appeared at the prestigious BBC proms and the San Francisco Opera.

And this season, she's playing a grieving man searching for his beloved in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Orfeo and Eurydice by Gluck.

Orfeo is Barton's first trouser role.

That's when a young male character is sung by a female singer.

And it's a tradition that can heighten the racier

elements of operatic storytelling, which suits Barton, who is frank about her non-Orthodox views

on sexuality and body image in opera.

Barton and pianist Kathleen Kelly have created what they call a feminist recital that turns the tables on gender and music,

and they sat down with June Thomas of Slate to talk about their show and perform songs from it.

Jamie Barton has a personality as big as her voice.

Her Twitter bio reads,

Proudly Queer Opera Singer into sci-fi, drag queens,

bluegrass, social justice, equality, and cats.

So it should come as no surprise

that when it came time to put together a classical recital,

her selection process was both intensely personal

and pointedly political.

The program that she and pianist Kathleen Kelly developed celebrates women,

...