It was one of the most detailed, artistically assured and musically thrilling pieces of singing and acting I’ve seen and heard in a long while.” ~ The Arts Desk

“But next day, naturally, all I remembered was the virtuosity of DiDonato. Handel knew his job as a writer of meteoric arias. His own singers may even have had the skill to realise their lustre, but did any boast DiDonato’s diamantine brilliance? None shines brighter.” ~ The Observer

“Joyce DiDonato (Ariodante) stopped the clocks with a heart-rending ‘Scherza infida‘ and then had us all reeling with the virtuosity of her ‘Dopo notte’.” ~The Telegraph

“Joyce DiDonato was accomplished in her every gesture, physical or vocal, and turned the famous showpiece Dopo Notte into something as elegant as it was triumphant.” ~ The Guardian

“DiDonato wonderfully essayed the trajectory of human experience expressed in the role, from serene confidence through heartbreak and the contemplation of the dark side of human nature to regained bliss.” ~ The Evening Standard

“The evening’s conductor, baroque specialist Alan Curtis, is of the opinion that ‘No one else is able, with such economy, to flesh out a character…With Handel, it was music for the sake of understanding a human being.’ Whether or not one shares this sentiment widely, Ms DiDonato’s performance made every case for its veracity, the depths of her character’s soul laid bare in her gorgeously executed performance. In a da capo aria with relatively simple form on the surface, she elicited all the luxurious expansiveness of Handel’s writing, transitioning from a soft mezza voce rife with suffering, to mounting anger, and finally resigned grief. The anguish she expressed was so vividly felt as to be almost tangible in the hushed auditorium of the Barbican.” ~ Opera Brittania

** Photo ©Christina Bräutigam