Dining on the Rhine

About Fred Plotkin

Fred Plotkin is renowned for his expertise in opera as well as food and wine and the joyful passion with which he shares his knowledge. He is the author of the classic Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera and six cookbooks. He has worked at La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera and spoken in most of the top opera venues in the world from San Francisco to Salzburg.

About Jamie Barton

Critically acclaimed by virtually every major outlet covering classical music, American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is increasingly recognized for how she uses her powerful instrument offstage—lifting up women, queer people, and other marginalized communities.

In recognition of her iconic performance at the Last Night of the Proms, Ms. Barton was named 2020 Personality of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards. She was the winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award and Richard Tucker Award, both Main and Song Prizes at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a Grammy nominee.

Barton made her San Francisco Opera debut in 2014 as Adalgisa in Norma and recently took on Fricka, Waltraute, and Second Norn in the Ring cycle, as well as making her role debut as Sara in Roberto Devereux. This season, she appears as Eboli in Don Carlo at Dallas Opera and as Julia Child in a film version of Bon Appétit! with Houston Grand Opera, Austin Opera, and Opera Philadelphia. She debuts with Dallas Symphony Orchestra in a program of Verdi favorites and joins soprano Angela Meade for a duo recital at Settle Opera. Ms. Barton also releases a new album, Unexpected Shadows, with composer and pianist Jake Heggie on the Pentatone label.