The final installment in Jake Heggie’s ekphrastic song cycle “Statuesque,” featuring a text by Gene Scheer, this art song is a monologue delivered by the Louvre’s well-known masterpiece the Winged Victory of Samothrace, who is fed up with being admired more for her beauty than her brain. The vocal line darts across Barton’s impressive range; her plush mezzo and acerbic steeliness evoke the statue’s more complex inner life. Barton’s ebullient exclamations about Winged Victory’s lack of a head are a vocal treat.

Harry Rose

Harry Rose, based in Providence, Rhode Island, is currently pursuing a PhD in Italian Studies at Brown University. Starting out blogging independently as Opera Teen in 2013, he holds the auspicious distinction of being the youngest writer to ever contribute to parterre box (at age 14) and has had the pleasure and challenge of writing for the rigorously discerning cher public since 2012. Increasingly niche hobbies and interests include opera, ballet, theatrical goings-on of the fin-de-siècle, and gatekeeping Camp.

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