“Unsparing ferocity” as the Sorceress Sycorax in the Met’s Enchanted Island
By Yankeediva on January 10, 2012 | Category: News | 6 Comments“The mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato was Sycorax. She commanded the stage from her first showcase scene, when she plotted her revenge on Prospero in “Maybe soon, maybe now” (music from Handel’s “Teseo”), singing with cool control, then bursting into fearless flights of passagework.” ~Anthony Tommasini, New York Times
Courtesy of The Metropolitan Opera © Ken Howard
“The unsparing ferocity with which DiDonato digs into her music and probes beauties both ravishing and terrible is Callas-like — a comparison invoked often and too lightly but here one richly deserved.” ~ Marion Lignana Rosenberg Classical Review January 2012
“Mezzo Joyce DiDonato displayed pinpoint agility and seemingly endless breath in Sycorax’s varied moods.” ~ James Jordan NY POST January 2012
“Artful and smooth”
Zachary Woolfe, New York Observer
“But not a single uncharged nanosecond came from DiDonato as the sorceress Sycorax; her exciting, accurate vocalism was matched by her knack for flamboyant theatrics.” ~ David Patrick Stearns The Philadelphia Inquirer January 2012
“The best moments came from Ms. DiDonato, a tragic heroine adrift in a sea of comedy.”
~ Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal
“Joyce DiDonato cackled, curled and soared with virtuosic flair in the bitchy-witchy spasms of Sycorax.” ~Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times
“Joyce DiDonato brings venomous humor and her fabled technique to Sycorax.”
~ Manuela Hoelterhoff, Bloomberg Businessweek
6 Responses to ““Unsparing ferocity” as the Sorceress Sycorax in the Met’s Enchanted Island”
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Yankeediva
- A gratitude posting for Thanksgiving November 23, 2011
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Refreshing innocence
July 5, 2011
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Random Rainy Day Ramblings and Research
June 12, 2011
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Thinking out loud
June 8, 2011
- Welcome coincidence May 17, 2011
mary anne chilton
Thank you for your brilliant performance as Sycorax on New YEar’s Eve. For some odd reason, you kept reminding me of Edina from AbFab! We are returning to the Met again to hear everyone’s superb performances again.
You have a brilliant voice and it shone so much in this production.
and I wish you the best in your future operatic career. Just thought it was important to write to you to let you know.
Thanks.
Mary Anne Chilton
Luis E Hernandez
Qué Sycorax tan maravillosa ha creado Ms. DiDonato en La Isla Encantada!! Voz hermosa, poderosa, perfectamente controlada y con muy amplio registro. Actuación impresionantemente creíble y fuerte. Enhorabuena, gracias, y adelante con esa carrera.
Luis E. Hernandez
Guadalajara (Mexico)
Cristina Gómez.N.
Dear Joyce
El sábado 21 de enero fué un día inolvidable para mi pués a pesar de estar a miles de kilómetros de distáncia de New York tu voz resonó en los corazones de todos.
Tienes una voz portentosa de una claridad inusual y lo más importante es que un pedazo de tu alma sale envuelta en la música y nos transporta junto con los fuegos artificiales de ella sobre una Isla Encantada en la cual dejas hechizados a nosotros los mortales oyentes-admiradores.
Muchas gracias por tu voz,tu arte y tu simpatía…
Es un regalo sobrehumano maravilloso,bueno no tengo palabras suficientes porque estoy muy emocionada.
All my best wishes to you
Cristina Gómez.N.
Gullringstorpgoatgal
Hej from Sweden,
Thanks to Peter Gelb, this city girl turned country gal has a chance to enjoy opera via live HD broadcasts in our local theater in the Swedish countryside! We had the privilege to attend a performance of The Enchanted Island this past weekend. I have to say that your performance was absolutely fantastic. Your transformation into the woman you were meant to be was so beautiful. But what was the shining and most moving part of the opera was your soulful, straight from the heart of a mother to her child aria that you sang to your son Caliban. I have been moved many times at the opera, and as a city girl when I can be, I have had the opportunity to travel to many of the worlds most beautiful Opera houses. This aria you sang to Caliban was so moving that I was shaken to my very soul and I cried through the entire aria. I am a mother so this aria really hit home. We would do anything to keep pain and unhappiness as far from our children as possible. This is an unrealistic dream, I know, but we try nevertheless and we feel the pain of our hurt child, as you so obviously felt Caliban’s pain and suffering. Thank you for such an experience. My daughter who has lived in Manhattan for 8 years is now trying her luck as an actor in the UK, so she is unable to attend the opera at the Met as she has for so many years. When she is here to visit us in Sweden, she has had the pleasure of attending a few of our HD broadcasts. I am sorry that she missed this performance. It was truly enchanting. Thank you.
I would love it if you would take a moment to view my blog about a city girl turned country gal. It is about my life in the Swedish countryside with my goats and other Swedish cultural pursuits. I will be starting my own business making homemade goat milk soap and I plan to launch within the next couple of months. An announcement will be made in my blog: http://gullringstorpgoatsblog.wordpress.com
Thank you for an enchanting evening at the opera!!
Karyn Stegenius
GullringstorpGoatGal
Sweden
Chris
I haven’t heard the production but will search on You Tube for excerpts. I did read a review of it in the London Daily Telegraph. The reviewer didn’t like the first half (he was talking about the production more than the singing I think) but warmed up considerably to the second half, praising particularly DiDonato’s “gloriously assured singing.”
Loraine Spence
I am writing from New Zealand having recently seen The Enchanted Island on HD at our local cinema. I thought your portrayal of Sycorax was stunning – the venom, the anger, your grief for Caliban were potent. Thank you for a wonderful opera – your performance shone. i do hope this will come out on DVD – it’s a certain purchase.
Loraine Spence