Elizabeth Proctor's dearest hope

Producer Brenda Tremblay with mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton

After Robert Ward left The Eastman School of Music in the 1930’s, he went on to study with Aaron Copland.  Ward crafted a musical language that would earn him a 1962 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his opera The Crucible, based on Arthur Miller’s iconic play. (Ward’s son says he remembers finding his parents unexpectedly drinking champagne in the kitchen; that’s how he found out his father had won a Pulitzer.)

This year the Glimmerglass Festival is offering a fresh take on the dark tale of revenge and paranoia. 

Jamie Barton is starring as Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible.

She’s the winner of the 2015 Richard Tucker Award, the winner of both the Main and the Song Prizes at the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, and a Grammy nominee.  She’s also very down-to-earth, as you’ll hear in this unedited podcast with producers Brenda Tremblay and Mona Seghatoleslami.

The last performance of The Crucible is Saturday, August 27^th.  The production will air on WXXI-FM in the future.

Jamie Barton as Elizabeth Proctor, Brian Mulligan as John Proctor and Maren Weinberger as Mary Warren in The Glimmerglass Festival's production of Robert Ward's "The Crucible." Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival