Atlanta Opera Presents Love Letters to Atlanta
Jamie Barton Sings Georgia on My Mind
By: Susan Hall - Jan 29, 2021
Georgia has been very much our minds this year and last. The state significantly contributed to the return of Happy Days.
The Atlanta Opera Company is offering Love Letters to Atlanta on February 14. For a short time, an excerpt is available for free.
Opera megastar Jamie Barton is a native of Georgia. When she went to graduate school in Bloomington, Indiana, she quickly found Bloomington native Hoagy Carmicheal’s song, “Georgia on my Mind" on a local jukebox. It accompanied her throughout her graduate work at the University’s Jacobs School of Music. It helped her feel not too far from home. Now Barton lives in Atlanta.
Barton chose this song to sing as a her love letter. It is her first appearance on the Fox Theater stage. She doesn’t have to belt the song. Barton has one of those graceful, huge sounds that naturally wraps itself around words. She moves with feeling and a juicy appreciation:
Georgia, oh Georgia
No, no, no, no, no peace I find
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia, my hometown, on my mind
Oh Georgia.
We all have a bit of Georgia in us this year. Try the Love Letters.