Still, it was Joyce DiDonato, in her company debut, who dominated. The American mezzo-soprano has, in the past few years, won over the Rossini crowd in most of the worlds opera capitals, and on Sunday she stole a show that was hard to steal. Hers is a full, rich, hall-filling sound, yet her roulades rolled off her tongue with unbelievable ease. She is a natural actress as well, and she even handled Sagi's cutesy leg-kicking business with flair, while retaining her dignity.
– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, November, 2009
But the musical highlight of the show is mezzo Joyce DiDonato, who has been attacking the part of Rosina with happy gusto in opera houses around the globe (so energetically, in fact, that she fractured a fibula onstage at Covent Garden this summer). DiDonato has a big but exceptionally agile voice, confident and clean throughout the range. Her opening "Una voce poco fa" was brilliant, committed and rapturously received.
– LA Downtown News, December, 2009
DiDonato, as Rosina, is no less dazzling (she first appears, appropriately enough, on a pedestal), lightning fast and pearly of tone, her phrases unwinding in waterfalls of cream.
– Orange County Register, December, 2009
Making her Los Angeles Opera debut, golden-toned mezzo Joyce – "I was born in Kansas just like Dorothy" –
DiDonato matched Flórez note for note, and made Rosina, who can be too much of a virginal babe, into something delectable, made of flesh and blood.
In less than a decade, she has become one of the most sought after singers by the leading opera houses in roles ranging from A (Alcina) to Z (Zlatohrbitek, in Janacek's 'Cunning Little Vixen').
In addition to her astonishing singing, she has a command of languages that even has the French press singing her praises for her idiomatic French.
– Seen and Heard International, December, 2009
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Metropolitan Opera
Photography: Ken Howard
In an interview with me some years ago, Marilyn Horne had a complaint. The typical opera review, she said, went on and on about the production - about what the stage director had done, what the set designer had done and so on. Only at the bottom was there a smidgeon of comment about singing. That is a complaint that I have long shared. In honor of Horne, and this complaint, let me go on for a while about singing...
DiDonato is back, lighting up the Met stage. That is what she did in 2005, when she appeared as Stéphano in Goundod's Romeo and Juliet. That is a nothing role, frankly, with a nothing aria. But DiDonato, this sparkler from Kansas, practically stole the show with it. Since then, she has been stunning in recital...and stunning in just about everything else, too. Last January, she ended Marilyn Horne's 75th-birthday gala in Carnegie Hall with Rossini's aria "Tanti affetti," from La donna del lago. Even Horne - no slouch herself in that aria - had to be wowed.
DiDonato was in top form as Rosina on a recent Saturday night. She has just about every gift an opera singer can have, musically, vocally and theatrically.
The voice can be sultry and smoky, particularly in its lower register; and it can be pure as the driven snow - everything depends on the musical needs of the moment.
DiDonato is perpetually alive, even in relatively trivial bits of recitative: nothing is routine, humdrum or phoned in.
And her technique is quite simply the envy of the vocal world.
Let me offer just one detail from that Saturday night: in the "Freddo ed immobile" section, Rosina, along with other singers, must sing detached notes - very hard to keep on pitch.
Not for DiDonato. And I will not forbear commenting on Rosina's big aria, "Una voce poco fa."
DiDonato is always coming up with new interpolations for it, new wowings: and they are fitting, exciting - wow-ing, indeed.
Finally, DiDonato has what I have long called her special ingredient: adorability, which,
along with some other key ingredients, cannot be learned, but seems to come from within, or above.
– Jay Nordlinger, City Arts, October, 2009
You could hardly wish for a better cast than the one assembled here...
Joyce DiDonato, who broke a leg while playing Rosina at the Royal Opera in London in July, never missed a step here.
Added to her lovely voice and precise coloratura were her superb dramatic skills:
she spoke volumes with a sly smile or an arched eyebrow.
If the Met currently has a sure-fire hit, this delicious lark is it.
– Steve Smith, New York Times, October, 2009
Best in show was Joyce DiDonato as the rebellious ingenue Rosina.
Not only did she nail every musical curlicue, she added intriguing variations of her own, modulating her sleek mezzo-soprano with subtle shifts of color and tempo.
Just three months after fracturing her leg doing this opera in London, she scampered around the stage with the madcap verve of a young Bette Midler.
– James Jorden, New York Post, October, 2009
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Royal Opera House
Photography: Dave Benett
IN PRAISE OF...JOYCE DiDONATO
There is a moment in Rossini's jovial opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia when the heroine, Rosina,
complains that she has cramp in her foot – and the line has never seemed more appropriate
than this week at Covent Garden. Joyce DiDonato, the US mezzo-soprano who performs the part for
the last time in the run tonight, would have achieved wonderful reviews for her voice alone:
luscious and clear, with a freshness that filled the theatre. It was as good a performance as
anyone could remember, from a new star, but the event that made it extraordinary occurred during
the first act on the opening night. DiDonato slipped, hurting her ankle, and sang for the next
three hours supported by a crutch. It turned out to be a fracture, but rather than withdrawing
from the show she pressed on, singing and acting largely from a wheelchair. Whirling about the stage,
with a bright pink plaster cast on her leg, her predicament seemed fitting for her character,
who is supposed to be imprisoned at home by her guardian. On her blog DiDonato wrote that
"being trapped in the wheelchair was a quite literal way of demonstrating Rosina's frustration
and huge desire to break free". She certainly managed that. The rest of the cast was spectacular,
too, in a performance shown live on big screens around the country last Wednesday –
but DiDonato stole the show. If, when the production is revived, Rosina appears on the stage
without a wheelchair decorated with a big ribbon, it will seem as if something has gone wrong.
– Sunday editorial, The Guardian, July 18, 2009
Last Saturday's performance of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Covent Garden was one of those rare nights at the opera that nobody present will never forget.
The staging sparkled with wit and fun, Antonio Pappano's conducting was delightfully brisk and witty and the five principals all knocked spots off each other with their showpiece arias and comic timing.
Everyone was 'in the zone', giving of their very best, and the audience knew it – the applause was delirious and tumultuous.
The extra element was provided by the fabulous Joyce DiDonato, who took a nasty tumble in Act I as she ran across the stage and collided with a banister. She recovered quickly and seemed fine, but re-emerged in the next scene with a walking stick. After the interval, the stick had turned into a more supportive crutch, which she wielded to great comic effect (she also inserted an extra line into the recitative explaining that she had a cramp in her foot.)
DiDonato sang divinely (singing the best "Una voce poco fa" I have ever heard, not forgetting Bartoli) and there wasn't a second in which one was aware that she was actually in considerable pain from a bone broken above her ankle. What superb old-school professionalism – and an instance of the magic of good old 'Doctor Theatre', who insists that "the show must go on ..."
– Rupert Christiansen, Telegraph, July, 2009
Rossini's Barber of Seville is packed with showstoppers; but when did we last see it cast at such strength,
sung with such tongue and vocal chord twisting relish, and conducted with such panache that every number did just that
– stopped the show?
Answer: the current revival of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's wild and wacky staging at the Royal Opera House.
They must have added a quarter of an hour to the running time in applause.
Joyce DiDonato's dazzling Rosina was hanging on for dear life at that point having stumbled and sprained her ankle in the second scene.
She battled on, of course, singing with delicious innuendo and fabulous aplomb, and the crutch she used came in useful when she trashed the set in the storm scene.
But then no one was ever buying that "I am a well behaved girl" line. DiDonato has the attitude; she owns this role.
– Edward Seckerson, The Independent, July, 2009
A standing ovation for Joyce DiDonato at the end of Rossini's The Barber of Seville at the Royal Opera House on Saturday; at least they could stand. The American mezzo soprano sprained her ankle towards the end of the first act.
An announcement before the curtain went up for the second act informed the audience that, although she was in considerable pain, DiDonato insisted on continuing singing the lead female role, Rosina.
Hilarity was mixed with applause for her pluckiness when she made her first entrance after the accident with the aid of a metal crutch – particularly since about the second line she had to sing was, "I have a cramp in my foot."
Her performance was vocally unaffected; and she even used her walking aid to take a swipe at a footlight. And, in the final curtain call, the excited audience was treated to the unusual sight in an opera house of a mezzo waving her crutch at them.
– The Evening Standard, July, 2009
The singing all round easily meets the high expectations created by such a top-flight cast,
with the applause following DiDonato's Una Voce Poco Fa, exceeded only by the audience eruption after
Florez's Cessare Di Piu Resistere. Shortly after the former, DiDonato slipped and hurt her right leg. Although she gallantly continued her performance (many were unaware of the injury), she returned after the interval on a crutch. It was announced she had sprained her ankle, although it turns out she broke the fibula of her right leg.
Perhaps by completing the performance, she was reflecting Rosina's steely resolve, but certainly DiDonato suddenly found herself playing two heroines at once.
– Edward Bhesania, The Stage, July, 2009
Neither the indisposition of Simon Keenlyside as Figaro, nor Joyce DiDonato's sprained ankle, nor even the momentary malfunction of the surtitles, could prevent this from being a magical evening.
Poor Joyce DiDonato fell in Act I and sprained her ankle, and had to hobble about on a crutch for the remainder of the evening (drawing huge laughter on her second-act appearance when Rosina complains of cramp in her foot). 'Dunque io son' was absolutely delightful, and she was a powerhouse in the second act, seemingly unimpaired by the pain in her foot. The eccentric staging of the tempesta required her to kick the leg off the harpsichord, bash one of the footlights and push over a huge wardrobe, but she managed even this, so with her unimpeachable technique and gorgeous tone she was an audience favourite.
– Dominic McHugh, Musical Criticism, July, 2009
When people say "break a leg" to a singer, they don't mean it literally. That was no comfort to American mezzo Joyce DiDonato, who broke her fibia during a show at London's Royal Opera House on Saturday.
After having received rapturous applause for her fiery entrance aria in Rossini's comedy "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," DiDonato stumbled when walking across the stage. A few moments later, she left the set, returned with a stick and carried on performing. It looked like she had sprained her ankle.
DiDonato later revealed on her blog that she had, in fact, broken her fibia. There's a picture of her sitting in a hospital looking glum in her plaster cast.
Incredibly, her performance after the accident was as full of comic sparkle and zippy coloratura as before. She decorated her crutch with a pink flower, and used it to bash bits of the set when her character was having a tantrum.
– Warwick Thompson, Bloomberg, July, 2009
With the characters afflicted by 'anvil-hammer headaches', scarlet fever and debilitating foot cramps, we were reminded that Bartolo is in fact an 'esteemed' doctor and that Figaro lists 'surgeon' as one of his skills.
Indeed, it seemed that Bartolo was right when he complained that Figaro was turning 'this house into a hospital' – not least because the prima donna, Rosina, was wheelchair-bound throughout.
This was not, however, a quirky directorial whim of the kind that 21st-century audiences have become all too familiar with. There cannot be many Rosinas who would willingly elect to tackle the substantial challenges of the role from this confining position, but there was little choice for the American mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato who, having continued valiantly after slipping on the opening night, subsequently discovered that she had in fact fractured her fibia. Forbidden to put any weight on her plaster-encased leg,
DiDonato must have been in considerable discomfort, if not pain, and the audience whole-heartedly appreciated her determination to continue in the role, welcoming her first stage entry with a rapturous outburst of grateful applause.
If she was physically incapacitated, DiDonato was in no way vocally, musically or dramatically hampered. This was an outstanding – and given the circumstances, astonishing – performance. Capricious and independent throughout, she overcame the physical restrictions imposed on her, offering a consummate display of coloratura singing and acting with panache and verve. DiDonato's technical mastery is accompanied by innate musicality and powers of communication: she manages to make Rossini's idiosyncratic twists, leaps, stutters and dynamic dips sound both effortless – in 'Dunque io son' she dazzled with a thrilling sparkle of a trill – and genuine.
Paradoxically, she used her injury to superb dramatic effect. Trapped both figuratively and literally, DiDonato presented a poignant picture of innocent vulnerability, threatened by a domineering tyrant; but simultaneously she twisted, pouted, whizzed from left to right, swung her undamaged legs and flailed her arms, allowing the petulance and feistiness of the 'real' Rosina to shine through.
– The Opera Critic, July, 2009
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Vienna
The big surprise of this one-shot Barbiere was the debut – and the one and only scheduled
performance – of Joyce DiDonato as Rosina. (She is not on next season's roster.) Considering
her extensive international resumé as a singer, comedienne and ardent blogger (known as "Yankee Diva"),
you might think Vienna could have found something a little more high-profile for her.
With luck, it will come when Dominique Meyer, currently of the Théatre des Champs-Elysées
replaces Holender in 2010, or if Theater an der Wien can find a place for the American mezzo
in a Baroque opera, especially one by her beloved Handel.
As with most repertory revivals at Staatsoper ... DiDonato had about six hours of rehearsal,
none of it onstage, in costume or with orchestra. How much was spontaneous and how much was
rehearsed we shall never know, but suffice it to say, she vamped, camped and cavorted her
way into the Viennese public's heart. Ravishing in powder blue, she dazzled the hearer with
interpolations verging on the impossible (I was reminded of Beverly Sills's sometimes wild
improvisations), highlighted by a stunning trill.
Basically, she blew everyone else off the stage.
– Opera News, July, 2009
Her two new Handel recordings recently made a "Furore", and her reputation precedes her.
The New York Times raved about her first Met Rosina, and now the American mezzo soprano
Joyce DiDonato has sung the role for the first – and only – time at the Vienna State Opera –
in the 352nd performance ofthe production by Günther Rennert.
Thank goodness her singing was not as old-fashioned as the staging. On the contrary, she
tossed off crystal-clear coloratura, presented a dark, secure low register, a confidently
nuanced mid-range, bright and voluminous high notes – in short, everything that
makes for great, modern belcanto style.
She appears undaunted by the role's many technically tricky passages, and even more:
she sang musically challenging variations on every repeated phrase, designed every
single bar with brio, and presented a psychologically multi-faceted characterisation
with wildly joyful abandon.
Sublime DiDonato Joyce DiDonato éblouit par sa maîtrise et son intelligence stylistique. Rares sont les chanteuses
qui savent trouver ce juste équilibre dans la phrase mozartienne, entre les effets vocaux d'une
interprétation de scène et le respect rigoureux du texte. Elle réussit cette synthèse,
une fois de plus, à la perfection: à l'échelle de l'œuvre d'abord, en alternant un engagement
scénique parfois violent dans les récitatifs, pour retrouver dans l'air une noblesse vocale imparable;
dans l'exécution des arias ensuite, ménageant aprs quelques affects de voix dans les ornements ou fin
de phrases du bas medium, une ligne vocale irréprochable dans les cadences, qui, comme le résultat d'une contre-force,
se trouvent chargées dans leur simplicité et la qualité de leur chant d'une remarquable intensité.
Donner une substance dramatique au personnage, préserver le classicisme de l'écriture dans
l'accumulation de forces contenues: quelle grande leçon de style!
– FORUMOPERA.com, March 3, 2009
Solaire, galbée, frémissante, d'un emportement juvénile qui jamais ne semble composé – et c'est un exploit,
sous cette perruque, dans ce costume qui décidément l'engoncent –, Joyce DiDonato refait,
peut-être plus plein, plus assuré qu'il y a deux ans, l'Idamante de sa génération.
– Altamusica.com, March, 2009
Reste enfin pour le bonheur de Mozart et du nôtre la belle mezzo soprano américaine Joyce DiDonato
qui additionne tous les atouts : la démarche altière, la sincérité
du jeu et cette voix à la fois claire et ardente. Elle est la lumière qui éclaire les nuits d'encre du spectacle.
– Webthea.com, March, 2009
Béatrice and Bénédict, Paris
E poi, c'era la protagonista. Che si può dire di nuovo dull'arte sopraffina di Joyce DiDonato?
Che era pari a quanto ci si attendeva da lei? non era solo che cantava benissimo, e in particolare
quella lunga e difficile aria del secondo atto (accolta con un uragano de applausi),
ma che dizione e che artista di prima classe! Spero di farle un complimento se dico che mi sono
trovato a pensare più di una volta all geniale Emma Thompson nello stesso ruolo.
– Jorge Binaghi, l'Opera, February, 2009
On attendait beaucoup de la Béatrice de Joyce DiDonato : elle n'a pas déçu.
Elle a d'abord le mezzo clair et homogène qu'il faut, aussi à l'aise dans l'aigu
que dans le grave ; elle a ensuite un art de phraser qui répond parfaitement aux
canons du style français, sans parler d'un tempérament de feu – ne lui doit-on pas
un récent disque d'arie di furore haendéliennes ? – qui est bien aussi celui de l'héroïne.
Si bien que le grand air du second acte devient anthologique.
– Concertonet.com, February, 2009
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Chicago
Lyric debutante Joyce DiDonato immediately announced her prodigious vocal quality with a
killer trill in Rosina's brief interjections to 'Se il mio nome.'
'Una voce poco fà' was fine, but it was in 'Contro il cor' that the American mezzo
really strutted her Rossinian pedigree, delivering the aria's complicated runs with
precision and humorous élan.
– Opera News, May, 2008
DiDonato...with her spunky, funny, lustrous-voiced Rosina...sailed through the elaborate twists and turns of the heroine's touchstone aria,
'Una voce poco fa,' with the agility, accuracy, rhythmic point and mile-wide charm that have made her a superstar in the Rossini repertory.
She never lets you forget what a smart cookie Rosina is beneath her ingenue facade.
– Chicago Tribune, February 18, 2008
The real musical news comes from the singer portraying Rosina in a belated Lyric debut, American mezzo Joyce DiDonato. All reports are absolutely true:
Here is an open, honest, captivating singing actress who somehow combines youthful freshness with mature knowledge and control.
After the seductive purity of her singing, you will want tickets to New York, London and Paris to see the Kansas product again soon.
– Chicago Sun-Times, February 18, 2008
La Cenerentola, Barcelona
Nel primo ha brillato la stella incontrastata di Joyce DiDonato, straordinaria Angelina,
che ha mertitato le scroscianti ovazioni tributatele dal pubblico. Le ha meritate per
la classe musicale raffinatissima con la quale ha pattinato sul canto di coloratura rossiniano,
conoscendone ogni segreto e ogni malizia tecnica. Il suo timbro de mezzosoprano acuto,
quasi sopranile in pi di un momento (ideale, quindi, per futuri "ruoli Colbran"...) non
ha avuto nessuna difficoltá ad abbandonarsi alla morbida, dolcissima espansione di un
canto patetico, pastellato, screziato di sfumature dolcissime e toccanti. Paradigmatico
il commovente - si, in Rossini... - duetto del primo atto con l'altrettanto magnifico
Juan Diego Florez. La grande scena finale è stata, poi, sicuramente la meglio cantata da
noi ascoltata nell'ultimo ventennio, in un crescendo di mirabolanti e brillanti variazioni,
sempre di gusto squisito, che hanno letteralmente incantato l'asoltatore. Il pubblico ha
gradito entrambe le "locandine" riservando però il clamore a Florez, e il trionfo - insieme
alla sua "bontà", secondo sottotitolo... - Joyce DiDonato.
– L'Opera, January, 2008
Once upon a time, we used to only dream about a stellar pairing like Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu has fielded for their
current offering on display: "La Cenerentola." I mean, a diva and a divo that could both easily, nay joyfully negotiate the
considerable and varied vocal demands of the title role and the Prince? And handle spot-on comic acting as effortlessly as they
embodied well-judged sentimental moments that truly touched the heart? And on top of it all, both be possessed of exceptional,
unassuming youthful good looks and that truly elusive "star quality"? Well, 'tis the season, and dreams do come true. Those who
whine and pine for some elusive "Golden Age" or another should shut up and hurry to Catalonia to catch Joyce DiDonato and
Juan Diego Florez in what may just be definitive performances in Rossini's enchanting rags-to-riches-rendition.
The beautiful, blond, Ms. DiDonato quite simply has it all. She can dispatch roulades with aplomb; color and vary seamless melismas
to convey any variety of emotions; float high, middle, or low notes (and everything in between); spout out fiery dramatic phrases;
or pull back to pianissimi of crushing frailty. It seems nothing in the role eludes her. She is a major artist with a beautifully schooled,
richly handsome instrument, at the top of her game. Above all, she invites us into her world with a winning presence and an infectious
delight, sharing her prodigious gifts in the service of one of Rossini's most enchanting characters.
That she brought us to our knees and then to our feet with a perfectly judged "Non piu mesta" almost goes without saying.
It was one of those thrilling performances when my heart began racing as fast as the coloratura, and the entire audience scarcely
dared breathe. Applause and a low roar began as soon as she released the climactic note, and it built and built until the play-off
finished and we seemed helpless in wanting to out-do each other in shouting our approval.
This is the kind of moment we dream of encountering in our years of routine, nicely competent opera-going, isn't it?
A spontaneous communal moment mercifully unspoiled by the likes of the Met Shush-ers (aka "The Applause Police"), where sudden perfection
and the outpouring of recognition collide to make for an electric, one-of-a-kind shared experience. But far before this famous set piece,
our star impressed from her very first, firmly-voiced "Una volta cera un' re," and then she just went from strength to strength. I felt
much like Renee Zellweger in "Jerry Maguire" when she said "You had me from 'hello'."
– Opera Today, January, 2008
...la mezzo-soprano ligera Joyce DiDonato, que supo situarse a la altura del papel cantando con voz clara y limpia, añadiendo variaciones
en las repeticiones de sus frases y exhibiendo un estilo preciso e impecable.
– La Vanguardia, January, 2008
Los grandes triunfadores fueron también la paraja protagonista. Joyce DiDonato posee una voz muy bella, de mezzo soprano lírica,
con expansión suficiente, pero donde destaca es su sentido de la interpretación, lleno de detalles, su exquisita musicalidad y su
fraseo de una comunicabilidad impactante.
– El Mundo, January, 2008
La destacada emisión de la mezzo-soprano de Kansas Joyce DiDonato, el cuidado fraseo y una coloratura impresionante la han convertido en posos años en una de las intérpretes rossinianas más destacadas. Su interpretación como Cenerentola, muy encorsetada en el frágil personaje de la hermana infamada, due ganando enteros en el segundo acto y se destapó definitivamente en su espectacular aria final y la subsiguiente «calableta».
The Kansas mesosoprano deployed her beautiful song and a great capacity for seduction Joyce DiDonato, the Liceu.
Joyce DiDonato captivates the Liceu
The Liceu already has a new muse. Joyce DiDonato Sunday deployed all her art and ability
to charm with the intense song recital Three centuries of love. The diva from Kansas,
who had won the heatrs here two years ago in La Cenerentola, confirmed that this mezzo
coloratura is living the best moment of her career. The public finally surrendered to the
elegance of her phrasing and musicality of her voice.
Expressive, outgoing, with an ebullient friendliness, DiDonato succeeded with her innate
ability to convey emotion, to seem as if she had sung for each audience member alone.
In the end, after the encore of Tanti affetti from Rossini's La donna del lago,
the hall roared its approval and the artist, with the excellent pianist David Zobel,
had to return to bow four times. The tour de force of vocal agility had been the perfect finish to a great performance.
Shortly before beginning the Rossini aria a fan shouted "Brava!" She, with her unique sense of humor,
replied, "Wait, I haven't even sung it, yet." DiDonato attacked the difficult performance with a refined technique.
Rossini, one of the highlights of her repertoire with Handel and Mozart, featured prominently in the first half wth:
the aria Assisa pie d'un Salice from Otello.
In closing, she surprised with a saucy and mischievous version of La spagnola Di Chiara. ¡Olé Joyce!
– El Periódo, January, 2010
Three Centuries of Italian Love Songs,London
In the voice of Joyce DiDonato songs that most singers use as warm-up material or as
encores become sudden, radiant masterpieces. The mezzo-soprano's latest recital,
Three Centuries of "Amore", contained virtually no great music at all,
just sentimental ditties written by Italians (and one notable German), either to test
their own craft or to display the powers of lungs and larynx. Yet there were some
extraordinary musical discoveries in an evening in which DiDonato's sheer love of
sharing what she was doing radiated warmth into the raw night air.
To begin at the beginning, there was Caccini in the 17th century; but not the Amarilli with which students audition and singers start their workout. This performance, beautifully accompanied by DiDonato's exceptional pianist, David Zobel, was a solemn declaration of love. It started with a slow crescendo of ardour on a single vowel and ended with the most exquisitely placed and timed final trill this song has possibly ever experienced.
And, to go on until the end, as the 20th century arrived, a song from 1933 by one Ildebrando Pizzetti brought stark austerity to Oscuro e il ciel, a glimpse into the heart of darkness.
DiDonato's voice is at present nothing less than 24-carat gold. Not one note is less than perfectly pitched, not one weak spot is heard throughout the register; and DiDonato is in total control. As the body stands totally still, the voice responds to every nerve-ending in the music with nuances of colour, subtle tremblings of fleeting vibrato, a momentary brightening or dimming of tone.
Beethoven's Metastasio exercises, including his arietta T'intendo, si, mio cor, seemed to catch the emotional heartbeat of the Countess in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. And, after a revelatory performance of Rossini's Assisa a' pie d'un salice, which breathed life into Verdi's own Otello, DiDonato introduced us to the crepuscular art songs of Francesco Santoliquido – from Naples, where else?
After some Arabian and Spanish exotica, the hall took a hushed inbreath as DiDonato suddenly donned bow tie to become Cherubino in an encore. This, and an aria from Rossini's La donna del lago, point to her current roles: be there tonight to hear it all reprised.
–Hillary Finch, The Times, January, 2010
When the language of love is Italian there are countless different ways of saying "Amore".
Joyce DiDonato pretty much exhausted them all during the course of this intriguing recital but somehow kept coming back with more. Novelties abounded and if indeed it's true that "all you need is love" then no one was going to leave this recital feeling short-changed – or else.
It takes courage for a big personality mezzo like DiDonato to rein in the sound and effectively switch from oils to water colours for her very first group of Arie antiche. It's not unusual to hear these songs used as warm ups at the opening of a recital but a voice as ample as DiDonato's could so easily demolish them that using half the voice and half the amount of air to capture the girlishness of "Danza, danza, fanciulla gentile" presented perhaps the biggest challenge of the evening for her. At the centre of the group was the beautiful "Amarilli mia bella" where the key to hypnotic purity was a pale and interesting sound using very little vibrato and where the tiny melismas conspired with the trills to lend the shivers of delight. David Zobel's ever-attentive piano, now transformed into a lyre, added to the allure.
We could perhaps have lost the Beethoven group. You would not expect him to be quite himself in Italian song and he was not – the disguise playfully hinting at Mozart or more likely Salieri with whom he studied in Vienna. Interesting, though, to hear him experimenting with two takes on the same text "L'Amante impaziente" ("The Impatient Lover") – one flippantly comical, the other full of pathos. DiDonato turned the comparison into an exercise in method acting for the voice.
For me the most pleasurable discoveries of the evening were the art songs of Francesco Santoliquido. DiDonato switched frocks as well as vocal personality swapping demure Grecian blue for a figure-hugging emerald green more in keeping with these exotic blooms. They were scrumptiously singable, Pucciniesque in the best sense with aching cadences deploying tremulous glissandi. From now on in it was a case of ungirdling the voice and flaunting it with a Caruso favourite, "Lolita", and the inevitable "Spanish Lady" at her ripest.
And, of course, there was DiDonato's signature Rossini: the "Willow Song" from Otello achingly poignant with limpid groupetti and, as an encore, a storming account of Elena's final aria from La donna del lago as fresh as if the evening had just begun.
–Edward Seckerson, The Independent, January, 2010
Soprano Joyce DiDonato has acquired an Italian surname by marriage. She is a Kansas girl of Irish ancestry without a drop of Italian blood – a fact that makes her apparently instinctive command of the language, style and flavour of Italian music all the more remarkable.
This recital was entirely devoted to it, avoiding some of the big names (no Monteverdi, Vivaldi or Verdi) and exploring forgotten as well as familiar repertory. Throughout, DiDonato was in superb voice, singing with clean tone, firm line and excellent taste. She really is a singer of the front rank, in her prime, blessed on this occasion with an excellent French pianist, David Zobel, who played the often rather trivial accompaniments with winning panache and sensitivity.
During the first half of the programme, neither of them put a note wrong. A group of songs from the collection Arie Antiche came up freshly minted and full of character, no longer empty technical exercises, but vivid little gems. "Danza, danza" did precisely that; "Se tu m'ami" was sly and piquant; "Amarilli" ached with amorous melancholy; "Nel cor piu non mi sento" had a boisterous playfulness.
After Beethoven's four fluently elegant sorties into Salieri's fashionable manner came Desdemona's "Willow Song" from Rossini's Otello, sung to harp obbligato with a limpidity and purity that scaled the heights of the neo-classical sublime. Capitalising on the presence of her harpist Lucy Wakeford, DiDonato added a ravishing unscheduled encore before the interval – the heavenly "Prayer" from Rossini's Maometto Secondo.
Two irresistible encores raised the game. "Voi che sapete" brought Mozart's Cherubino enchantingly to life, while "Tanti affetti" from Rossini's La Donna del Lago was a knockout, with a heart-stopping cadenza to the dreamy cavatina and sparkling fireworks in the triumphant cabaletta that left the entire audience with a very silly smile on its collective face.
–Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph,, January, 2010
In Concert,San Francisco
Bay Area music lovers have known about the brilliance of the American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato longer than most,
thanks to her breakthrough Merola performance as Rossini's Cenerentola and a triumphant Schwabacher
Debut Recital back in the mid-'90s. Yet I doubt that even her biggest local fans - and yes, I am one -
could have foreseen the vigor, the subtlety or the sheer vocal splendor that DiDonato brought to her
Monday night recital in Herbst Theater.
Appearing under the aegis of San Francisco Performances and dexterously accompanied by pianist John Churchwell,
DiDonato gave yet another reminder of why she has established herself as one of the most exciting young singers
of our day.
Her voice is plush and rich-hued, with a secure and forceful lower register, yet it's agile enough to move with
easy grace through the most fleet-footed passagework. Her technical command is prodigious, with superb dynamic
control and effortless precision, and she has a communicative gift that forges a winning bond with an audience.
On top of all that, DiDonato's restless intelligence leads her to seek out and champion a wide range of music,
from the operatic standards of Handel, Rossini and Strauss to the byways of the song literature.
Monday was byway night, as DiDonato unveiled a program of Italian and Spanish songs, most of them little-known at best.
And if she didn't entirely persuade a listener to share in her enthusiasms, she certainly gave it her best shot...
Still, she sang these with irresistible ardor and brought an even wider arsenal of artistic resources
to the opening set of "Arie antiche" from the 17th and 18th centuries: graceful expressivity in
Pergolesi's "Se tu m'ami," long-held tones and exquisite dynamic shades in Caccini's "Amarilli mia bella,"
and quick wit in Rontani's "Or ch'io non sequo più."
DiDonato took a broader and more dramatic perspective in two Rossini numbers, Desdemona's haunting "Willow Song"
from "Otello" and a dazzlingly virtuosic encore of "Tanti affetti," the final showpiece from "La Donna del Lago."
Then, before finishing, DiDonato pulled out one last surprise: An encore of Harold Arlen's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow,"
done with extraordinary musical eloquence and depth of feeling. No knock on the great Judy Garland, but I have never
heard this song sound so unnervingly powerful.
–Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, November, 2009
I have no greater joy than basking in the artistry of a great singer at the top of her form.
Such was my feeling as mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, perfectly accompanied by pianist John Churchwell,
began her San Francisco Performances recital Monday at Herbst Theatre. Singing to an eager audience
that included many supporters and fans who have followed her ever since her 1997 San Francisco summer
in the Merola Opera Program, DiDonato looked every inch the star in the baby-blue, Grecian-style dress
and gold-patterned cinch that perfectly complemented her shining blonde hair.
She also sang like a star. At her finest in the opening group of six mostly familiar Italian Arie Antiche,
DiDonato ... was quick to share her considerable strengths. Durante's Danza, danza, fanciulla gentile
(Dance, dance, young girl) displayed the fiery passion and almost growling chest voice that are so amply
displayed on her sensational new CD, Rossini: Colbran the Muse.
For Pergolesi's more subdued Se tu m'ami (If you love me), she summoned up her perfect trill, as well as a sweetness
sparsely employed on the Rossini disc. The real proof of her greatness came as Churchill joined her as if one for
the perfectly judged legato, marvelous trills, and exquisitely soft, breath-stopping singing of Caccini's Amarilli mia bella
(Amaryllis, my lovely one), and the thrilling full tone and gorgeous highs in the 20th-century arrangement of Rossi's Mio Ben (My beloved).
DiDonato followed with the "Willow Song" from Rossini's (not Verdi's) opera Otello. After Churchill's absolutely
riveting, poetic introduction, DiDonato produced her most gorgeous, heartfelt singing of the evening.
Alive to the meaning of every word, her lower tones she seemed to open a portal to the soul.
With her full voice at the end the most wondrous of the recital, DiDonato was magnificent.
Although the adoring audience was too discriminating to stand, when energetic applause from a seated position
seemed more appropriate, DiDonato returned with the operatic encore we had hoped for. Singing "Tanti affetti"
(So many emotions) from Rossini's La donna del lago (The lady of the lake) for only her third time in public,
DiDonato accompanied a host of perfect trills and immaculate runs with a deliciously teasing two-octave drop
that would have gotten two thumbs up from Marilyn Horne, who made a great recording of the aria. The performance,
even better than DiDonato's recently recorded traversal, brought the audience to its feet.
–Jason Victor Serinus, San Francisco Classical Voice, November, 2009
More than any other recitalist I've experienced lately, Joyce DiDonato has far outstripped the rest in terms
of knowing how to make a good end.
It wasn't just the mezzo-soprano's encore choices that touched the audience last night at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco,
though they made for a magical sign-off. A showy Rossini ("Tanti Aaffetti In Tal Momento" from Donna Del Lago) aria followed
by "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" don't sound like great choices. They seem like they'd be tacky, frankly.
But DiDonato brought such good-natured feist to the Rossini and understated empathy to the Arlen-Harburg standard
that these choices came over as the perfect way to send people home.
DiDonato is also masterful at ending individual songs in a powerful way. The conclusion of a couple of songs in a suite by
the late 19th/early 20th century Spanish composer Fernando Obradors were particularly magical. In "Con amores la mia madre"
the final cadence spiraled into the air like a butterfly taking off from a flower. "Del cabello mas sutil" ended with a gasp.
In every single piece, the performer demonstrated absolute and spell-binding control over her final note,
sometimes decrescendoing incrementally to absolute silence over what seemed like an eternity, and at other
times going out with a mighty bang or puff of smoke. She never fizzled.
It's no wonder that the Herbst audience -- normally so well versed in traditional concert hall etiquette --
didn't know quite what to do with itself after every song. There was often a breathtaking silence, followed
by applause, even in the middle of a series or suite of songs.
When DiDonato finally exited after her final encore, she left her bouquet of flowers on stage. Just like the bouquet,
the memory of her final notes lingers in my heart and will continue to do so for a long while hence.
In the anguished aria "Do not utter a word, Anatol," from Samuel Barber's "Vanessa," the soprano Lauren Flanigan,
a vocal powerhouse, gave such a visceral performance that you stopped thinking about acoustics. Something similar
happened when the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sang the tender song "Take Care of This House" from Bernstein's musical
"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." Though her voice is lyric and light, her sound is so plush and penetrating and her
singing so direct that you are drawn into her artistry.
–Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, November, 2009
The night was also about marketing ... but the real focus was clear by the end: good singing.
This point was literally brought home by Joyce DiDonato. Singing a song from Leonard Bernstein's 1976 musical, "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,"
DiDonato (who made her NYCO debut in 2002) is exactly the type of American singer City Opera exists to showcase.
From Regina Resnik to Beverly Sills to Flanigan City Opera has been a place where young American artists have grown and flourished.
The name of the Bernstein number was "Take Care of This House." Gorgeously sung, with a crystal tone and clear diction, DiDonato
(who will sing Rosina at LA Opera's "The Barber of Seville" next month) cut through the pomp and pageantry and reminded
the black-tie crowd that opera, at its core, is about expressive singing.
You didn't need the supertitles to know exactly what she was articulating: for the next generation of American opera artists, take care of this house. Indeed.
–James C. Taylor, LA Times, November, 2009
In Concert,Damnation of Faust, London Symphony Orchestra
Fortunately, Marguerite’s music was sung ideally by Joyce DiDonato, a spontaneous-seeming artist
who has clearly considered the impact of every note she produces, colouring and weighing them so that
the climax of her second aria produced the kind of rare impression where one simply wants to forget
all other music and live only in what one is hearing at that moment.
–Michael Tanner, The Spectator, September, 2009
Joyce DiDonato as Marguerite was superb, whether ecstatically in first love,
pining for her absent lover, penitent and condemned to death for causing the death of her mother,
or merely sitting silently as a soul experiencing redemption whilst the chorus of seraphim
sing their final chorale, she gave a performance of the utmost conviction..
Having watched Joyce DiDonato break a leg at Covent Garden – and go on singing superbly as if nothing had happened – it was no surprise to find her effortlessly dominating a Prom a few weeks later.
And with just four pieces: two recitatives from Haydn's 'Berenice', and two sulphurous arias by Handel. If the emotions in Haydn were classically contained, in Handel they all but blew the roof off. First 'Ombra mai fu' to soften us up, then Alcina's 'Ah! Mio cor' – the expression of a nakedly suffering soul, which this fiery Kansas mezzo turned into burnished gold. The hall loved her pure and forceful sound – brilliantly set off by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Roger Norrington – and gave it generously back.
–Simon Thompson, Seen and Heard, August 26, 2009
Recital, Edinburgh (Debut)
It took the arrival of Joyce DiDonato to inject some real star quality into the evening. Even here, though, she was foiled by some unlooked for drama as the Usher Hall lighting desk failed (twice!), plunging the stage into darkness. In the end it wasn't properly fixed and the performers had to do with an orange floodlight effect which, it was judged, was better than nothing, if far from ideal. Once she finally got to sing she was magnificent. DiDonato is one of the greatest singing actresses of our age, as anyone who has seen her Rossini at Covent Garden will testify. She stormed through Berenice's recitatives, proving alluring and sensuous for the aria, then fierce and implacable for the mad scene. The highlight of the evening, however, was a piece that wasn't on the programme and wasn't even by Haydn. For an encore DiDonato sang Handel's Ombra mai fu with utmost sensitivity and sensual allure.
–Simon Thompson, Seen and Heard, August 26, 2009
The Usher Hall, such an acoustic relief after the bizarre Albert Hall, is still in refurbishment but opened specially for the festival. It proved less than fully functional, however, during the all-Haydn programme by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by the eternally genial and genius-like Roger Norrington. He could not control what happened in the Scena di Berenice. Three times the platform lights failed, three times the thrillingly dramatic mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato tried and failed to get beyond the recitative to the aria. Many a diva would have stomped off, but DiDonato has a sense of humour. The audience roared gratitude and were rewarded with the interpolation of Handel's Largo.
–Paul Driver, The Sunday Times, August, 2009
After a run of Rossini at Covent Garden during which Joyce DiDonato fractured her leg on the first night of The Barber of Seville and thereafter had to sing from a wheelchair, the bubbly American mezzo must have hoped that her next British engagement, Haydn's Scena di Berenice, would pass off without a hitch. But it wasn't to be. One minute Berenice was promising to follow her slain lover into the Underworld; the next, the gods had granted her wish by turning out the lights and plunging orchestra, conductor and singer into Stygian gloom.
True to form, DiDonato took it with good humour – even after our chuckles had turned to exasperated clucks when the performers were twice more defeated by the gremlin in the electrics. Thankfully, when she finally resumed the aria – now under the nuclear glow of emergency neon – the hiatus hadn't dented her lacerating emotional force and scintillating virtuosity. A generous encore followed to soothe any frazzled nerves: Handel's Ombra mai fù, as serene and glowing as her Berenice had been all fire and fury.
–Neil Fisher, The Times, August 25, 2009
An electrical failure after the interval plunged the orchestra and American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato into gloom half way through the mad scene aria of Scena di Berenice. After a couple of false starts Usher Hall staff gave up on the misbehaving rack of overhead spotlights and turned on every other available light in the hall to allow the performance to continue.
Miss DiDonato was undaunted. She threw herself into completing the tragic aria with passionate despair and earned near-rapturous approval from the house.
–Mark Meredith, Edinburgh Guide, August 23, 2009
Here was a concert that began impressively but later fell victim to what has come to be known as the Usher Hall's annual festival mishap. This time it was the fault of the platform lighting, which suddenly blacked out the scintillating Joyce DiDonato's singing of Haydn's fierce Scena di Berenice, obliging her to launch the dramatic opening recitative three times before she could finally steer the work to its close.
The problem, never properly resolved, resulted in the concert's entire second half being presented beneath the sickly amber glow of the renovated hall's dismal old ceiling lights.
Happily, the accident-prone mezzo-soprano – who recently broke her leg during the opening night of The Barber of Seville at Covent Garden and made it seem less paralysing to the performance than a dark Usher Hall – proved unfazed by what happened and delivered a stirring account of Haydn's dramatic scena as part of a programme devoted (ironically as things turned out) to the composer's contribution to the enlightenment.
...But before that, space had been found for a DiDonato encore in the form of Handel's Largo, or what we know today as Ombra Mai Fu, an unhurried ode to a shady tree. Though now commandeered by counter-tenors, it was here a flowing, glowing vehicle for DiDonato's swaying voice.
–Mary Brennan, The Herald, August 24, 2009
A faulty lighting board turned out the lights on the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the newly-refurbished Usher Hall on Saturday.
The show, part of the Edinburgh International Festival and Scotland's Homecoming celebrations, was brought to a standstill for nearly half an hour before emergency lighting kicked in.
Conductor Sir Roger Norrington entertained the full house of 2,300 with a few wisecracks in the dark, and when the lights returned soloist Joyce DiDonato gave a stirring performance rewarded with a standing ovation.
– The Scotsman, August 24, 2009
Recital, Salzburg (Debut)
Oh dear: the replacement singer for the indisposed star tenor Rolando Villazon hobbled out onto the stage of the Grosses Festspielhaus, wearing a cast on her broken leg, and sat down to sing.
But anyone who might have thought a bodily injury could interfere with this singer's vocal agility had another think coming, even though singing while seated doesn't necessarily do the singing any good. This was a worthy evening of Handel arias – a program similar to the one Villazon had planned – a version of the one the American mezzo-soprano had sung all over the world to promote her "Furore" album.
The mezzo-soprano has become very well known in recent years. And rightly so, as became clear in Salzburg. Her voice is slender and cleverly deployed. Her high register has brilliant presence, the mid-range is completely audible. The voice is strong. And above all, the singer handles an unbelievably carrying pianissimo.
The program was well-chosen – demonstrating Handel's artful portrayal of rage and melancholy – and it was also very well designed, building from the early London operas to the late musical drama Hercules.
With "Where shall I fly", Hercules's wife fired up the audience to a storm of acclaim.
– Salzburger Nachrichten, August, 2009
DiDonato is one of the finest Handel-singers today. Her solo Album, "Furore", rightly won several prizes and is one of the most important record releases of this Handel anniversary year. All the pieces [in the concert] were chosen from the album, and she succeeded in utterly convincing the audience with her vocal qualities: a superb technique, capable of taking on everything from the tiniest coloratura to the most gigantic leap of intervals; a fantastic, room-filling piano along with a powerful forte; voluminous lows and powerful high notes; a warm, full, round, and unbelievably expressive voice.
With 'Crude furie' from 'Serse', DiDonato won over her audience completely. ...Ariodante's 'Scherza infida' was the second high point of the program. It was phenomenal to witness how well DiDonato can differentiate the expressions of disappointment, aggression, grief and pessimism, making them flow into one another seamlessly. The mad scene from 'Hercules' was intense. At the end of the concert, and especially after the second (and final) encore – 'Doppo notte' – standing ovations.
Rossini's La Regata Veneziana is a favourite of DiDonato's recitals and
she delivered an exquisitely coloured account set to Pappano's splashy, virtuosic playing,
though those hushed phrases were probably not audible in the amphitheatre.
She moved away from Wigmore Hall intimacy with the stand out item of the evening.
A far better recital choice than Verdi's alternative, Rossini's Willow song from Otello contains
some of the most haunting and beautifully written pieces he wrote, with a languid, mysterious opening
and the wind creepily evoked in the orchestra. Pappano played it with the most haloed, veiled tone,
picking out all sorts of detail not brought out usually in Rossini and it gave DiDonato the perfect
backdrop for Desdemona's mini-drama. It bodes well for when she does the whole opera.
– ConcertoNet.com, June, 2009
A spell-binding account of the 'Willow Song' from Rossini's Otello. Opting for a well-projected piano as her basic dynamic,
she created an intimacy and sense of tragic sorrow that was absorbing and heart-rending.
The artistry with which she modulated the line, both with delicate filigree decoration and variations in colour and volume showed
why she has risen to the front rank of international opera, and marked her out as one of the best bel canto stylists of our day.
Similar good taste, where perhaps I might have enjoyed less of it, prevailed in her renditions of Kern's 'Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man' from
Show Boat and Arlen's 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' from The Wizard of Oz. DiDonato's voice is uncontroversially beautiful and lyrical
and so slimming it down further for these lighter numbers was, to my mind, unnecessary. Still, others often find opera singers attempting
crossover to sound pretentious or excrutiating, and there certainly wasn't a hint of either on display here. Perhaps the emotional punch
of both pieces might have been greater and seemed more sincere had she sung out, but
the deftness and subtlety was certainly an unusual and ravishing approach.
– MusicalCriticism.com, June, 2009
Recital, Carnegie Hall
James Estrin/The New York Times
The mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato won prolonged ovations for her rich, agile and charmingly coy singing
in "La Regata Veneziana," three lighthearted Rossini songs, performed in a version with the original piano
accompaniments arranged for orchestra by Douglas Gamley.
Ms. DiDonato was especially fine in Mozart's "Ch'io mi scordi di te? ... Non temer, amato bene,"
an elaborate concert aria with a prominent part for solo piano, played elegantly by Mr. Levine, who
conducted from the keyboard. Even with his back to the audience, you could tell how much fun he was having.
– Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, January 26, 2009
DiDonato, one of America's most exciting young mezzo-sopranos, sang [Mozart's "Ch'io mi scordi di te?"] with unaffected emotional directness.
Fresh from her 'Furore' concert tour, she clearly had plenty of passion left …but emotion never impeded musical precision.
Her dusky vocal color infused the piece with a gravitas less accessible to the sunnier soprano voices that often perform this showpiece,
but her top notes were gleaming and free. Her skill at using silence for expressive ends was supported by Levine with great delicacy.
…After intermission DiDonato returned to sing 'La regata veneziana'. … [Her] charmingly effervescent impersonation of a
Venetian girl cheering on her gondolier lover leavened the performance with real energy and youth. For an encore she performed 'Non pi mesta'
…tossing off the coloratura with joy and an easy virtuosity that left no doubt why the Kansas City diva is in such demand in Handel and Rossini operas.
– Susan Brodie, American Record Guide, May/June, 2009
Is Joyce DiDonato the world's best Rossini singer? That title certainly seemed hers by sovereign right on January 25,
when the mezzo closed the MET Orchestra's Carnegie Hall concert with a smashing account of La Cenerentola's "Non più mesta,"
delivered as an encore to an Italian-flavored program of pieces by Mozart, Wuorinen, Rossini and Mendelssohn. DiDonato knocked Angelina's rondo
out of the park; her phrasing was silky, her timbre rich and glowing, and her ornaments were impeccably stylish and utterly beguiling.
Most impressive was DiDonato's combination of immaculate technical control with an air of wild, unstoppable joy.
This was truly a moment to treasure from an artist who is at the very top of her game.
The afternoon's program opened with Mozart's concert aria, "Ch'io mi scordi di te? …Non temer, amato bene," which was inspired
by the fabled charms of the composer's first Susanna, the evidently enchanting Nancy Storace. DiDonato – no slouch in the charm
department herself – was in surpassingly lovely form here, especially as partnered by James Levine, who played the piano part
that Mozart is believed to have written for himself. DiDonato's other contribution to the scheduled program was a crisp, lively traversal
of Rossini's La Regata Veneziana, the somewhat over-upholstered orchestrations by Douglas Gamley (familiar to Renata Tebaldi fans
from her late-career recording of this group with Richard Bonynge) given some genuine – and much welcome – zest by Levine's pacing.
– F. Paul Driscoll, Opera News, April, 2009
The ticket-buyer on a particular Sunday afternoon in Carnegie Hall definitely, definitely got his money's worth.
The Met Orchestra was conducted by its leader, James Levine. And the concert included two soloists.
The first was DiDonato – she was everywhere – who sang Mozart's concert aria "Ch'io mi scordi di te? Non temer, amato bene."
They say that, if you can perform Mozart, you can perform anything: He is the ultimate test. Whether this is true or not –
and I lean toward yes – DiDonato passed with flying colors. She was a model Mozartean,
and so, of course, was Levine – who took the piano part, as well as the conductor's.
He played with notable purity (though he might have "sung out" a speck more).
It should also be said in DiDonato's favor that she comes ready to sing: She needed no warm-up
– no onstage warm-up – either in the Met Orchestra concert or in the Horne gala.
"But don't they all come ready to sing? Isn't that a professional must?" Oh, what a sweet, naïve question.
After intermission, DiDonato returned to sing some of her friend Rossini.
She sang La regata veneziana with tremendous flair, as well as technical soundness.
You should have seen Levine: Rarely has a conductor had so much fun. He was eating up every second of it.
When La DiDonato positioned herself for an encore, you knew it was going to be one Rossini aria or the other:
either "Una voce poco fa" or "Non più mesta." It was the latter, and DiDonato dazzled in it, as usual.
– Jay Nordlinger, The New Criterion, January, 2009
There were at least two good reasons to go to the MET Orchestra's concert led by James Levine
Sunday afternoon in Carnegie Hall:
mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato was making one of her infrequent New York
appearances this season, and a new Charles Wuorinen work, "Time Regained," a
Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra, was to receive its world premiere, with
Peter Serkin as soloist.
The new work posed no danger of overshadowing DiDonato, who was heard in
music by Mozart and Rossini. For some odd reason, for which the Met's
artistic department presumably is accountable, DiDonato was absent from the
Met's roster last season and is not scheduled for anything in the house this
season either, so her appearance on Sunday was especially welcome. She
opened the concert with a sumptuously voiced, ardently phrased account of
Mozart's concert aria, "Ch'io mi scordi di te? . . . Non temer, amato bene,"
a wonderful piece expressing a lover's anguish in circumstances never made
entirely clear. This is the famous aria with piano obbligato, which was
played not by Serkin but Levine, who complemented DiDonato's shining singing
with pianism of musicianly grace.
She also sang "La Regata Veneziana," a collection of three charming
canzonettas in Venetian dialect from the trove of late Rossini compositions
that he collectively called "Sins of My Old Age." Heard here in an
orchestrated version by Douglas Gamley, it describes a regatta from the
point of view of Anzoleta, a girl whose lover is participating. DiDonato
arrestingly evoked the threat of inclement weather in "Anzoleta co passo le
regata" and brought an appealing sensuality to "Anzoleta dopo la regatta,"
the most melodically ingratiating of the songs, in which Anzoleta rewards
her lover with a kiss.
For an encore, DiDonato sang the aria-finale from "La Cenerentola" in a
performance that was all the more captivating because of the utter
meticulousness of her singing. The concert closed with Mendelssohn's
Symphony No. 4 in A Major, "Italian," which found Levine in ebullient form.
–George Loomis, MUSICAL AMERICA, January, 2009
Recital, FURORE!, Carnegie Hall, New York City
Coming from lesser artists the Handel program at Zankel Hall on Friday evening, coinciding as it did with a record release,
might have seemed a routine affair.
But the superb mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato raised the emotional temperature to the boiling point while expressing infinite
shades of pain and fury in her arias. And as on the new release from Virgin Classics, "Furore," she was accompanied by the
Baroque orchestra Les Talens Lyriques, which, conducted by Christophe Rousset, played with theatrical intensity,
mirroring the heat and virtuosity of her rich voice and fiery singing.
The program opened with arias from "Teseo," including the poignant "Dolce riposo." A gripping rendition of "Morirò, ma vendicata"
was a fine showpiece for Ms. DiDonato's tasteful vibrato and dazzling coloratura. From the opening note, with an exquisite swell
(matched by the oboist), her impassioned performance left you feeling deeply sorry for Medea, the heartbroken witch.
Other highlights included "Sorge nell'alma mia" from "Imeneo"; "Scherza infida" from "Ariodante"; and "Crude furie" from "Serse,"
another display of coloratura fireworks and powerful top notes. Mr. Rousset also conducted vibrant renditions of several instrumental
numbers, like the Passacaglia in B flat from "Rodrigo."
The program concluded with excerpts from "Hercules," including a tormented performance of "Where Shall I Fly," from Dejaniras mad scene.
"That's enough madness for one evening," Ms. DiDonato said before her two encores: a lovely "Ombra mai fù" from "Serse" and a dazzling
"Dopo notte" from "Ariodante."
–Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times, January 26, 2009
Friday night at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, the American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato made us not only realize why Handel's
operas are back, but also wonder how they ever could have left.
That DiDonato's recital with the Baroque orchestra Les Talens Lyriques was a de facto record release party for her album of Handel
opera arias, "Furore" (Virgin Classics), did nothing to cheapen the performance, and the bone-dry acoustics of Zankel Hall did
little to chill DiDonato's glowing sound, which warmed the hall from the opening notes of "Dolce riposo" from Teseo.
As the hapless witch Medea, DiDonato gently alighted on phrases of this cantabile aria, and gave a darker hue to the wrathful
"O stringer nel sen," where she displayed a nimbleness that never wanted for solidity. Firm coloratura continued in the highlight
of the Teseo selections, "Morir, ma vendicata," where the mezzo summoned harsh venom that retained a comical undertone. To close
the first half of the program, DiDonato dazzled in a killer cadenza in "Crude furie" from Serse, imbuing the aria with color from
the top to bottom of her range.
The performance of the night, "Scherza infida" from Ariodante, immediately followed intermission. In this reflective aria, Ariodante
muses over his lover's perceived infidelity. DiDonato filled the aria's quieter moments with introspection, cushioned and supported
by a warmly plucked bass line from the cellos of Les Talens Lyriques.
With DiDonato subtly shading the reappearances of the aria's title text ("Laugh, faithless woman"), the singer and orchestra together –
gently guided by maestro Christophe Rousset – actualized the evolution in thought that arcs over the music. In the quiet denouement,
DiDonato was a mastery of control, sustaining emotional tension with only her technique and her presence.
The final programmed selections were from "Hercules." DiDonato relished the closing "Where Shall I Fly," a descent into madness,
delivering crazy coloratura and palpable paranoia. Of the two encores, the first, "Ombra mai fu" from Serse, proved a dulcet antidote
to the previous sound and fury.
–Ben Finane, The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2009
Recital, FURORE!, Kansas City
Jill Toyoshiba for the Kansas City Star
Some performers just seem to have it all.
So it was when mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato took the stage at the Folly Theater Wednesday night with famed French chamber orchestra Les Talens Lyrique.
Simply put, the concert, presented by the Harriman-Jewell series, was THE musical event of the season. DiDonato's story is well known.
She is a homegrown diva – a Prairie Village native whose voice blossomed in college, and who attracted the attention of musicians and music lovers around the world.
The program was entitled "Furore" and featured arias and mad scenes from Handel's operas, as found on the performers' recent Virgin Classics CD of the same name.
DiDonato was in extraordinary form throughout the concert.
In "Morirò, ma vendicata" ... the singer demonstrated a variety of vocal techniques and colors on a single long-held syllable: straight tone,
minimal vibrato, crescendo and decrescendo, in one highly expressive passage.
The highlight of the evening was "Scherza infida" ... from Handel's Ariodante.
DiDonato articulated phrases sculpted in exquisite fashion with a depth of pathos rarely seen and heard.
The lengthy aria was breathtaking, and the singer seemed utterly drained of emotion upon its completion.
The mezzo exhibited a tour de force of acting ability in "Where Shall I Fly," Dejanira's mad scene from Hercules.
DiDonato conveys more with facial gestures than some opera stars demonstrate with their entire bodies.
She seemed emotionally tortured and on the edge of a breakdown during the scene. The music's manic tempo changes
underscored the character's mental instability. The number was utterly compelling.
The evening ended with "Dopo notte, atra e funesta" ("After a dark and terrible night") from Ariodante.
The aria was a fine choice to conclude the program, with explosive and dramatic runs for singer and orchestra.
– The Kansas City Star, January 22, 2009
Marilyn Horne 75th Birthday Gala, Carnegie Hall
Richard Termine for The New York Times
And finally we get to Joyce DiDonato - who closed the show with "Tanti Affetti" from Rossini's Donna del lago.
Oh, my goodness. I once heard Barbara Bonney say of a singer - a soprano - "She sang perfectly. Perfectly."
DiDonato sang perfectly - perfectly - too, is all I can tell you.
It was one of those performances about which, afterward, you simply stammer.
– Jay Nordlinger, The New Criterion, January, 2009
Ms. DiDonato brought down the house with the closing work, Rossini's "Tanti affetti," once a Horne tour de force.
– Anthony Tomassini, The New York Times, January 19, 2009
Recital, FURORE!, Spain
EMPERATRIZ DEL MIDWEST
Joyce DiDonato se entregó por completo en Zaraoza. La rutilante mezzosoprano de Kansas
cautivó al público con su impactante presencia escénica y con su voz en un recitál lirico
de primerísima magnitud. Todo ópera de Hândel, cantada como Dios manda: contagiando al
público ese estado de euforia inconfundible, que se percibe en las caras de la gente tras
un vibrante espectáculo operstico. Esto es lírica, oigan. DiDonato, alta, rubia, exuberante,
simpática, salió a escena y tomó posesión de ella cantando cada aria con la bravura mayestática
de la artista nacida para ser grande. No olvidemos que todo espectáculo tiene un indiscutible
componente visual, en este caso, brilliante.
– Heraldo de Aragón, December 21, 2008
DiDONATO, INTENSA Y SENSIBLE
Joyce DiDonato está de moda. Su creciente evolución, con premios y disco incluidos,
han hecho furer en crítica y público. Su debut en Valladolid se produjo, de manera casual,
en el 2002, sustituyendo a Anne Sophie von Otter en el papel de Sesto de Julio César.
Si entonces llamó la atención, ahora está ya en la cima por derecho propio. Su intensidad
y facilidad en las coloraturas y, sobre todo, su voz densa y a la vez clara, emitada con
naturalidad en los medios y agudos, la llevaron ayer a cosechar un rotundo éxito.
"Ombra mai fu" de Serse, plena de intensidad y sensibilidad. Conjugar estas dos cualidades
con maestría está sólo al alcance de las grandes; y después "Dopo Notte"
de Ariodante, en la que estuvieron presentes todas las virtudes de la cantante: ágiles
colores, intensa expresión y perfecta afinación en los ligados, controlando
las dinámicas de modo magistral.
– El Norte de Castilla, December 16, 2008
Recital, FURORE!, the Barbican, London
Furore - fury, rage or passion - is the title of Joyce DiDonato's recent album, focusing on characters
in Handel's operas or oratorios suffering an extremity of jealousy or remorse. Bringing these items to
the concert platform, accompanied (as on disc) by the French period-instrument orchestra Les Talens Lyriques
under Christophe Rousset, the American mezzo showed that her range of technical skills was
fully equal to the tasks Handel sets in this compendium of what are usually termed "rage arias".
Though each character is represented in a particular situation given specificity in Handel's settings,
the emotional charge is regularly conveyed in crazed displays of rapid-fire coloratura, which DiDonato dispatched
with a precision that rarely faltered even for a semiquaver. The high point was reached
in the frenzy of Dejanira, who has caused the death of her husband Hercules through misplaced
jealousy and calls on the Furies to punish her. In two extracts from a role she performed at
this same concert hall in 2006, DiDonato was no less vividly dramatic, even without
the paraphernalia of a full-scale production.
Her programme was cleverly chosen to vary what might have become an orgy of manic aggression delivered at top speed.
Ariodante's Scherza Infida is a more pensive response to rejection, with a plangent bassoon weeping along with
DiDonato's crestfallen heroine. Here and throughout, including in some purely orchestral items inserted to give
the soloist a few well-earned breaks, Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques provided secure musicianship,
though a wider range of character would have fired the music even more. With her words as keenly etched as her notes,
DiDonato could scarcely have been more expressive, punching above her vocal weight at times, though never without impact.
– The Guardian, December 17, 2008
Before Handel frenzy sweeps through the composer's adopted city next year as London celebrates
the 250th anniversary of his death, the Barbican invited the French period-instrument ensemble
Les Talens Lyriques and the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato to present a prologue in the form of
an evening of Furore: Handel's Scenes of Madness
If the title sounds familiar, it's because this was the concert of the CD. But this was
no dutiful replication: it was an electrifying revelation of Handel's theatrical genius,
and a celebration, under the direction of Christophe Rousset, of some of the finest Baroque
playing in Europe. With Stephane Fuget's harpsichord twinkling away between the strings'
slow heartbeat, DiDonato relished every poised syllable in the Dolce riposo before the storm,
as Medea revelled in the fleeting serenity of love in Handel's opera Teseo. But not for long.
Anger, scorn and fury arose in her breast, as DiDonato, now poisoned by jealousy, hardened
her tone through every biting vowel in O stringero nel sen. She still imagined a dream of love,
though, floating hope high in her head voice and colouring the word adoro in luxuriant coloratura.
On to the fury of vengeance in Moriro, ma vendicata - and here DiDonato bared her teeth,
snarled through every trill and turn and then, in her final resolve to die, let breath
expire through exquisitely controlled vocal tone.
There can be problems in presenting a programme themed on one emotion alone. Would we tire of
seeing DiDonato relentlessly psyching herself up for yet another outpouring of furore? Far from it.
After the interval, she tirelessly searched for every conceivable variant of self-torment and torture.
For Scherza infida from Ariodante, mortified disbelief was voiced in grieving bassoon and the
ebbing pulse of plucked basses - and a single vowel "o" shaped into searing lament in DiDonato's voice.
Her final tour de force was Where shall I fly? from Hercules. Never have the furies of the
mind been more physically present, in the whiplash of the violin bows, the sibilance of
scorpions and snakes, and a vocal re-creation of spiritual disintegration in which nothing was spared.
– The Times Online, December 16, 2008
When Joyce DiDonato sweeps on with tousled blonde mane and in a skimpy scarlet bodice,
you know this Southern belle means business of a steamy sort. We saw her at Covent Garden
as the scorned Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni: her sulphurous rage incinerated everything
it touched. So when she gives a recital entitled Furore: Handel's Scenes of Madness,
we know roughly what to expect.
We're not disappointed. Her first aria, "Dolce riposo", is from the amorously-thwarted Medea:
DiDonato's tone has a burnished brilliance, and her phrases are exquisitely shaped.
Then comes an explosion as Medea gives vent to her jealousy: here she runs the gamut from
plangent wistfulness to enraged coloratura threats. Meanwhile, under finely calibrated direction
by Christophe Rousset, the strings and woodwind of Les Talens Lyriques underscore her every
emotional twist. When she declares, voice shadowed by a solo oboe, that she will die,
and spells out what those tortures will be, she lets rip with the virtuosity one imagines
Handel demanded of his divas.
Readers who missed this concert can buy the CD it was designed to launch, but the difference
between the two is revealing. Singers usually sound "better" on CD, but DiDonato sounds
infinitely more exciting in reality. Her artistry is consummate: …DiDonato's sound
is always beautiful, yet never at the expense of the drama. When she sings an aria that
would have been delivered by a castrato, she divests herself of femininity; when she mimics dying,
her voice diminishes to a golden thread.
– The Independent, December 16, 2008
Recital, Malibran Concert, Pesaro
Canto e fascinazione, magistrale Joyce DiDonato
Veniva giù
il teatro (Rossini) l'altra sera a Pesaro, non solo alla fine, quando non c'era verso di guadagnare l'uscita per gli applausi scroscianti e per i continui
richiami del pubblico rivolti all'artista, ma anche dopo ogni esibizione in corso di programma: e giustamente, perché Joyce DiDonato ha offerto ai fortunati presenti
in sala un'esibizione che non esitiamo a definire superlativa, e in crescendo di fascinazione rara prodotta sull'ascoltatore, quale da tempo non ci era dato di cogliere.
La grande Maria Malibran, a cui era dedicato il concerto dell'eccellente mezzosoprano americano che si esprime benissimo in italiano e che in corso di performance
artistica sapeva rivolgersi al pubblico in modo piacevolissimo e brillante, non poteva rinvenire "collega" migliore per il doveroso omaggio a lei dovuto in occasione
del bicentenario della nascita.
Sì, vogliamo ringraziarla, la bravissima Joyce, per averci trasmesso l'entusiasmo delle migliori occasioni del Rof , e per averci dato almeno un'idea, con le sue spiccate
qualità vocali ed espressive e con una sequenza di scelte di brani d'opera modulate su alcuni personaggi che resero celebre la grande artista dell'Ottocento, dell'atmosfera
di consenso che con siffatte interpretazioni si ricreava attorno alla cantante-attrice sulla scena.
Le caratteristiche vocali della DiDonato sono di prim'ordine: le sue note sono duttili, vibranti, ricche di armonici, ottimamente legate e uniformi nei passaggi di registro;
la sua intonazione è perfetta, e si scioglie in una musicalità che fa tutt'uno con la carica emotiva a cui l'accompagna, talchè il sentimento, la mozione intima degli affetti
rilucono già nella voce, ne sono parte vitale.
Partita dal Cherubino delle Nozze mozartiane, fatto rivivere con i giusti accenti di giovanile trasalimento interiore, con successivo passaggio alla deliziosa Susanna personaggio
della stessa opera (la Malibran li affrontava entrambi), la nostra protagonista trascorreva di poi a Rossini siglando il suo "belcanto" all'insegna prima dell'edonismo patetico,
intenso e struggente di Desdemona, poi del virtuosismo agile e scoppiettante di Rosina.
Ma era nella seconda parte della serata, con il suo meraviglioso Romeo in "travesti" dei Capuleti e Montecchi di Bellini, che la temperatura emozionale del concerto raggiungeva
il suo acme, a motivo di un'incisività di canto di dolente bellezza. Da tempo non ascoltavamo qualcosa di simile. E al successo delle prescelte scene belcantistico-romantiche
conferiva un non secondario contributo l'interessante ugola sopranile di Amanda Forsythe, una creatura dell'Accademia rossiniana. Sul podio, il maestro Leonardo Vordoni era alla
guida della valida Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento. I "tanti affetti" del pubblico verso di lei dopo i reiterati applausi erano puntualmente premiati: Joyce DiDonato per il
bis si trasformava in Cenerentola, e faceva ancora una volta sognare.
– Corriere Adriatico, August, 2008
Quindi il successo vivissimo di questo recital non ha forse conosciuto le punte trionfali di Malibran della DiDonato,
dedicato appunto a Maria Malibran nel bicentenario della nascita. Qui il programma è risultato più equilibrato,
nello spaziare tra alcuni ruoli chiave della Malibran (Cherubino, Susanna, Desdemona e Romeo), affronatati dal mezzosoprano americano
con smagliante qualità vocale, virtuosismo impeccabile, stile esemplare, ma sopratutto con slancio espressivo travolgente.
In particolare nella cavatina di Romeo e nei duetti con l'eccellente Giulietta di Amanda Forsythe ... la DiDonato ha esibito una
tensione interpretativa perfettamente sintonizzata sul più purissimo e raffinato belcanto. Diretta dal marito italiano Leonardo Vordoni
...la cantante ha siglato forse il momento più festoso e memorabile di questa edizione del Festival.
– L'Opera, August, 2008
DiDonato, blessed with an inviting and creamy lyrical voice and a prodigious technique, seemed to conjure up Malibran's ghost with a natural stage presence which totally captivated her audience. Hers was a performance to which opera lovers gladly succumbed.
DiDonato, an artist who is at the top of her game, dismissed any concerns about the program's length, and dove in with skillful exuberance. This combination of passion and craft reached a most gratifying level in the Rossini and Bellini sections.
But it was DiDonato's three scenes from I Capuleti that brought the audience into that Bel Canto world where Bellini and his librettist Felice Romani lived their lives to the fullest. With great assist from conductor Leonardo Vordoni, Forsythe's Julliet, Coro Da Camera Di Praga and Orchestra Haydn Di Bolzano e Trento, Di Donato created operatic scenes filled with great beauty and artistic honesty.
FURORE! Recital and live recording, La Monnaie, Brussels
"Furore! La mezzo américaine
Joyce DiDonato annonçait la couleur en donnant ce titre à un récital d'Airs de Haendel
présenté avec la complicité des Talens Lyriques diriges par Christophe Rousset. Le répertoire écrit par le grand Saxon
lui est familier tant à la scène qu'au disque. L'engagement et la conviction avec lesquels elle habite les caractères
auxquels elle prête voix sont proverbiaux et ont sans doute guidé le choix des extraits. Quand elle déclare que dans
cette musique il est impossible de faire les choses à moitié ou de feindre et que c'est pour cela qu'elle l'aime, elle
résume l'essentiel de sa prestation. Voix superbe aux couleurs affirmées, matrisée du plus ténu des piano au plus
assertif des forte, mise au service des émotions qu'elle exprime avec tant de vérité. On ne passera pas sous silence
la beauté des reprises ornementées des premières sections des aria da capo, ni celle des colorature remarquablement mises en place.
L'enthousiasme collectif qui marqua la fin de la soirée n'était pas limité au public puisque trois bis
furent proposés avec générosité et bonne humeur. Revenons aux paroles de l'artiste qui espérait entraîner
le public dans un voyage si palpitant qu'il en aurait le souffle coupé, pour lui dire tout simplement: mission accomplie!
– Crescendo, April, 2008
The mezzo takes this repertoire seriously and she has the means to deliver on her promises … as she demonstrated in dazzling,
often intoxicating fashion. The flexibility of her instrument is amazing; and as if her true, vital coloratura and her exemplary
legato were not enough in themselves, she brings all her resources to bear on sculpting the music, throwing out brilliant top notes,
venturing powerful crescendos and raising the stakes in virtuosity. She both surprises and delights…
– Forum Opéra, April, 2008
Recital, New York
Photo courtesy of Le Soliel
The mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato has covered a lot of territory in her operatic appearances, in the process swiftly securing a position as one of the most engaging, consistently satisfying singers around. In a recital she presented in Lincoln Center's Art of the Song series at the Rose Theater on Wednesday night, she ranged farther still.
Accompanied by the pianist David Zobel, Ms. DiDonato opened with three arias from operas by Vivaldi. The qualities that have made her a hot commodity in Handel were on full display: powerful low notes, penetrating highs and utter security in between, as well as dazzling technical command, stylish ornamentation and an eloquent grasp of character.
Persuasive accounts of four lovely songs by Chausson made you hope that Ms. DiDonato might find time in her crowded schedule to record this elegantly fashioned music. She and Mr. Zobel struck just the right tone for the plain-spoken simplicity of "Hébé," the languid sensuality of "Sérénade," the deftly rendered nostalgia of "Le Colibri" and the busy flutter of "Les Papillons."
Two works in the program, Turina's "Poema en Forma de Canciones" and Copland's "12 Songs of Emily Dickinson" have turned up on Ms. DiDonato's adventurous CDs. Here she endowed the Turina with a suitably sultry passion and brought clarity to eight of Copland's angular, enigmatic Dickinson settings.
Ms. DiDonato proved her genuine regard for Richard Strauss in her first encore, a blazing account of "Musik ist eine heilige Kunst" from the opera "Ariadne auf Naxos." And if that pointed toward Ms. DiDonato's future, her second encore, "Non più mesta" from Rossini's "Cenerentola," reminded listeners why they had fallen for her in the first place.
– New York Times, March, 2008
Joyce DiDonato, lyric mezzo-soprano du jour, seems to have everything… Lithe, lovely and obviously smart, she can sing high and low with nearly equal resonance, and with no break between the extremes. She can sing fast with astonishing accuracy and slow with compelling grace. She can sing loud with decent fervour and soft with exquisite point. She knows how to make even a simple scale sound meaningful.
Draped in a lavish turquoise gown, she devoted the first half of the evening to elegant pursuits. She brought noble finesse to two Vivaldi arias, heroic bravura to a third. She graced four mélodies of Chausson with suave sensuality, shaded four canciones of Turina with smouldering insinuation.
First she illuminated Copland's Emily Dickinson Songs with austere wit and crafty whimsy. Then she flirted with good old Gershwin: a sweetly sophisticated interpretation of "The Man I Love" followed by an in-joke, "By Strauss". The Strauss of the original involved the Schlag of Johann, but an oh-so-cute adaptation by James Lowe incorporated the Schmaltz of Richard. The fans obviously would have been happy to have DiDonato waltz all night.
– Financial Times, March, 2008
Ms. DiDonato began with three Vivaldi arias. She rolled out an opulent voice, and one that moved - one that could move through passagework. This is one of the most exciting things in music: a sizable, opulent voice that can move. I have often likened such voices to linebackers who can pirouette.
From Vivaldi, the performers moved on to four songs by Ernest Chausson. In the first, "Hébé," Ms. DiDonato was superb: She was a model of control, both physical and mental. And she sings a very good French. It is not "singer French," correct but obvious. It is subtle and natural.
Ms. DiDonato sang eight of the 12 Dickinson songs that Copland wrote...the mezzo did her eight songs proud: She sang them intelligently and naturally. She didn't cute them up, and she didn't try to be deep with them. Neither was she inappropriately mousy: She let herself be "operatic," when that was called for. I will mention one song in particular: "The world feels dusty." It was simple, unaffected - almost devastating.
Encores? There were two. Ms. DiDonato sang the Composer's Aria from Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos." Here, she was soaring, rhapsodic - thoroughly Straussian. And then she sang her inevitable. Or one of her two inevitables. Ms. DiDonato is a noted Rossinian, and it was pretty sure she'd sing either "Una voce poco fa" or "Non pi mesta." She sang the latter - and did so winningly, dazzlingly. The aria was faster than fast. And clean as a whistle, and clear as a bell. As usual, Ms. DiDonato's interpolations were surprising and amazing. Also as usual, they were at least as musical as they were show-offy.
This singer has umpteen things going for her: a fabulous technique, an excellent voice, a fine mind. But she also has adorability - a kind of secret ingredient, of great benefit to a singer. As she was making her final curtain call, she slipped and fell. The audience gasped. But Ms. DiDonato recovered, adorably - and the audience applauded all the more.
– New York Sun, March, 2008
Recital, Palais Montcalm, Quebec
Joyce DiDonato pourrait se contenter de chanter, on y trouvait déjà des raisons de l'apprécier. Sa grande gentillesse, qu'on a pu découvrir au fil de la soirée donnée au Palais Montcalm hier, apparaît donc comme une sorte de cadeau qu'elle vous offre par-dessus le marché, seulement pour vous faire plaisir.
La mezzo-soprano américaine n'a pas besoin de se donner des airs de diva distante pour qu'on comprenne qu'on se trouve en présence d'une grande artiste. Comme elle cherche au contraire à se faire proche des gens, on a parfois l'impression qu'elle ne chante que pour vous. Elle est un peu votre voisine d'à côté, mais qui aurait une voix sublime.
Les trois airs de Vivaldi qui ont ouvert la soirée permettaient de découvrir une voix qui se donne telle qu'elle est, totalement, sans chercher à faire joli. C'est ce qu'on pourrait appeler chanter avec son âme. La chanteuse a osé plusieurs longues tenues sans vibrato, se contentant de jouer avec le timbre, d'ajouter de nouvelles nuances à la couleur. On sent dans cette attitude une approche trés naturelle et même plutôt candide.
Cette absence de défense, on la retrouvait dans les quatre mélodies de Chausson, dont Le colibri, purement ensorcelant, ainsi que dans les pétillantes chansons de Turina. Quant au cycle de Copland, celui-ci a permis à Joyce DiDonato de donner une idée de la force et de l'étendue expressive de son instrument.
Si on se fie à l'acclamation qui a salué Non piu mesta...de Rossini offert en guise de second et dernier rappel, c'est ce morceau qui a été le plus apprécié de toute la soirée. Émises apparemment sans effort, ces vocalises vertigineuses dessinées avec précision en suivant la courbe d'un phrasé naturel et souple sont vraiment la marque de commerce de Joyce DiDonato.
– Le Soleil, March, 2008
Recital, Philadelphia
You could call her the classical music world's "mezzo of the moment" – except that her winning, incisive artistry, in person and on recordings, is not of the flash-in-the pan variety but instead proves a lasting contribution. Her singing offers utter vocal security: spectacular agility, generous breath control, a wide range …and a stunning command of musical and verbal phrasing. Unlike many younger singers, cushioned by opera audiences' reliance on projected titles, DiDonato really cares about words.
– Philadelphia City Paper, March, 2008
Joyce DiDonato barely stepped onto the stage Sunday afternoon before the audience at the Independence Seaport Museum discovered two things. First, DiDonato is an expressive singer who colors words and conveys character with her voice. Second, the mezzo-soprano is an adventurous recitalist who knows how to put together a program that displays her artistry as well as her versatility.
The recital marked a homecoming for the mezzo-soprano trained at the Academy of Vocal Arts. The applause built from one selection to the next and culminated in an ovation that drew two encores.
Both artists found their form in a long-breathed aria from Vivaldi's "Il Giustino." Zobel cradled DiDonato's voice with loving care as she spun out the vocal lines in a flow of beautifully shaded tone. DiDonato exploited the woodwind timbres in her voice in a coruscating account of a virtuoso aria from "Il Farnace." She shifted seamlessly from Italian opera to French chanson in a group of four songs by Chausson. Her warm-toned voice took on a new array of colors. Turina's songs invited the singer to color her voice boldly. In "Cantares," she sang with such expressive intensity, someone in the audience cried out, "Ole!"
DiDonato proved an expressive advocate for Copland's "Poems by Emily Dickinson." She found a vivid interpretive manner for each of the eight songs. Totally relaxed and in complete vocal control, she wrapped her melting voice around Gershwin's "The Man I Love." Then she capped the afternoon with an ebullient "By Strauss."
The audience demanded – and got – two encores. DiDonato soared through the Composer's ecstatic paean to music from Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos." Then she gave a breathtaking performance of Cinderella's rondo from Rossini's "La Cenerentola."
The wild, pop-up-book setting inspires deeply realistic and touching interpretations from the cast, led by superstar tenor Juan Diego Flórez and American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, in signature roles ... DiDonato's glowing tone and supple phrasing paint Cenerentola with uncommon compassion and warmth. Both artists are so at ease vocally that the Act 1 duet is a lovely moment of real delicacy and sincere emotion, and Cenerentola's final aria, with DiDonato exploding joyfully in killer coloratura runs, becomes an act of forgiveness and strength, as well as liberation..
– Opera News, February, 2010
Ma il piatto forte della produzione è lei, Joyce DiDonato. La figura è
proprio quella di Angelina: fresca, giovane, delicata e tenerissima. Si muove con garbo e
riesce ad affettare anche quel tanto di goffa ingenuitá che nelle vesti della serva sfortunata non guasta.
L'entrata nel finale del atto è recitata come si conviene ad una dama che si impone con naturalezza e senza alcuna forzatura.
Una signora, insomma, deve essere così. Il finale dell'opera la coglie tripudiante, radiosa e rugiadosa di sorrisi:
il trionfo della bontà. Alla figura corrisponde la voce.
La DiDonato è delicata voce di mezzosoprano proporzionata alle esigenze dello strumentale di Rossini.
Presenta una regione centrale rotuonda, di una rotondità naturale e non artefatta, scevra da quelle carnosità
che questo repertorio non richiede. Nel grave è capace di trovare anche ombreggiature più scure,
da mezzocontralto, che sono adattissime al personaggio e alle situazioni. L'emissione è morbida così
che il canto è sempre condotto con elasticità. Questo artificio permette alla DiDonato di manovrare il suono,
di graduarne la gamma, di imprimerle quelle infinite gradazioni che fanno varia la linea. L'asso nella manica è il canto fiorito:
la DiDonato vocalizza con pertinenza e facilità, sgrana le note ad una ad una, le fa rimbalzare come perle contro il cristallo.
È abilissima nelle agilità di grazia, con momenti di puro incanto. È pronta in quelle veloci.
Non solo infila alla perfezione le collane di volate che infiorano la parte, ma ci offre uno dei più emozionanti Rondò
che si siano ascoltati nell'ultimo decennio. Forse il migliore in assoluto.
Cenerentola insomma ha trovato una nuova interprete che, dopo Lucia Valentini Terrani, possa portarsela via e farla sua.
– Opera (Italy), January, 2010
Tout n'était qu'un rêve ? Et oui, cette Cenerentola ne tombe pas dans les
bras de son prince. Pendant les dernières secondes de musique l'entourage princier
disparaît et Cendrillon reprend son balai, entourée seulement de ses plus
fidèles compagnons, une petite bande de rats. Pleine de poésie et de fantaisie
(les rats !), aux couleurs vives et aux costumes extravagants, le tout agrémenté
d'une superbe touche de surréalisme, la première mise en scène de
la troupe catalane Comediants nous emmène tout droit chez Alice et son Pays des
Merveilles. Et cela fonctionne – merveilleusement!
Le plateau est dominé par deux chanteurs de premier ordre. Dans le rôle titre,
Joyce di Donato frôle la perfection. Dotée d'une voix de mezzo riche et belle,
admirablement homogène, aussi à l'aise dans les graves de sa chanson
d'entrée que dans les aigus de son éblouissant air final, elle nous
touche par l'authenticité de ses accents et par le naturel de son jeux..
– Andreas Laska, Musique Classique, December, 2009
Colbran, the Muse, Virgin Classics
DISC OF THE MONTH (Opera, UK, February 2010)
After Rubini from Flórez and Malibran from Bartoli, now comes a celebration of another
star from the heyday of bel canto, courtesy of Joyce DiDonato. This time it's the Naples-based
Isabella Colbran, Rossini's Spanish muse and, from 1822, his wife.
In the past, the Colbran roles have been tackled by both mezzos and sopranos. DiDonato,
the self-styled Yankeediva best known for her feisty Rosina's and Cenerentola's,
shows that she not only has all the notes well within her range, but that she can rise
to the dramatic challenge of these altogether more grown-up Neapolitan heroines.
The disc kicks off with Armida's virtuosic Act 1 Tema can Variazioni ('D'amor al dolce impero')
leaving us no doubt of DiDonato's technical abilities or the pleasing, easy beauty of her voice.
The two extracts from Donna del Lago that follow are, if anything, even finer –
good news for her role debut as Elena later this year in Paris. Anna's touching prayer from Maometto II
is sung with affecting simplicity, while Elisabetta's "Quant'è grato" finds us nearly back on familiar
DiDonato territory with its shades of Rosina's "Una voce poco fa". Rossini's final opera for Italy is
represented by Semiramide's "Bel raggio lusinghier": another unrepentent showstopper, perhaps, but one
that demands quick shifts in mood, captured thrillingly here.
To finish, DiDonato is in irresistible form in Armida's remarkable final scene, running
the gamut from helplessness to vengeful fury in a heady mix of top notes, flames and fioritura.
Helped by the fine playing from the Santa Cecilia orchestra and Edoardo Müller's alert direction,
it's difficult to imagine a more satisfying Rossini recital coming along for some time.
– Hugo Shirley, Opera (UK) , February 2010
**Opera News: EDITOR'S CHOICE**
With her sure sense of line and color, DiDonato takes possession of the repertory,
mining every musical and vocal gesture to inhabit each character confidently.
She never objectifies bravura passages...and she shows superb control of the placement
and timing of ornamentation, especially the unmeasured, irregular flourishes that seem
to have been a particular strength of Colbran.
DiDonato's trills are flawless, her Italian is always precise, and her theatrical sense is magnificent.
Musically and dramatically, the disc is perfection.
– Judith Malafronte, Opera News, January 2010
For DiDonato, such opportunities have yielded significant breakthroughs. While singers
from Marilyn Horne to Bartoli speed through Rossini's coloratura passagework like champion
race cars in the Grand Prix, DiDonato's Colbran disc represents a stunning alternative:
She decides which notes constitute the musical core of music's larger ideas and gives
them the emphasis by treating everything around them as something ornamental.
Thus, the music has rhetoric and never sounded so important.
– David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer, January 2010
Sur les traces de la Callas
Whaou ! Dès les premières notes de ce nouvel enregistrement, l'explosion
vocale que nous offre Joyce DiDonato dans son » D'Amor al dolce impero » soulève
le souvenir de la version que Maria Callas donnait au public du Teatro Communale de Florence
en avril 1952. Malgré la qualité désastreuse de la prise de son,
Callas crevait l'écran. Jamais depuis on avait entendu une telle fougue, une telle
projection vocale. Avec son interprétation, Joyce DiDonato marche sur les traces
de la diva grecque à l'époque incontestable de sa gloire vocale.
Joyce DiDonato nous emmne aujourd'hui jusqu'aux mêmes nues que celles que la Callas
nous faisait toucher. Quel engagement, quelle fougue, quel phrasé. Les lourdeurs
éléphantesques d'un accompagnement orchestral caricatural n'empêchent
pas la mezzo de moduler sa voix dans de magnifiques couleurs et d'imposer des phrases
d'où jaillissent des notes de miel.
Reprenant les airs que Rossini avait composés pour Isabella Colbran, sa femme,
sa muse et la prima donna du San Carlo de Naples, Joyce DiDonato s'engage dans les tessitures
de sopranos dramatiques. Elevant sans aucune difficulté son instrument vocal,
la voix de la mezzo américaine surprend par l'aisance d'émission de ses
vocalises les plus vertigineuses. Rien ne l'arrête.
Son « Tanti affetti in tal momento » de La Donna del Lago, opéra
qu'elle créera sur la scène du Grand Théâtre de Genève
en mai prochain avant de l'apporter à l'Opéra Garnier le mois suivant,
laisse augurer des soirées magiques.
Comme il avait débuté, l'album de la mezzo se termine sur le final d'Armidaqui
expose son éblouissante forme vocale et qui la voit s'investir dans une lecture dramatique
du texte à donner la chair de poule. Avec une générosité artistique bouleversante,
elle range aux « Oubliez-moi çà » toutes les sopranos qui,
depuis la grande Maria Callas, se sont attaquées à cet opéra.
L'entendre s'enflammer dans les dernières mesures de l'air final fait regretter de
ne pas être LE directeur qui portera Joyce DiDonato en Armida sur la scne de son théâtre.
Un disque « must absolu » pour tout amateur de Rossini qui, à cette
époque de son existence artistique, a composé les pages parmi les plus
inspirées de tous ses opéras.
– Jacques Schmitt, Musique Classique, December 2009
By the time she completes the first astounding 50-second musical statement of "D'Amor al dolce impero"
(To the sweet rule of love), mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato has delivered her calling card. The soaring high notes,
seamless runs, and imperious declarations of the impossibly demanding second-act finale of Gioachino Rossini's
opera Armida establish, in no uncertain terms, that she's a major artist at the height of her powers.
The first of seven demanding arias, on a disc packed with enough flawless trills and high climaxes
to satisfy the most demanding opera lover, the Armida tour de force introduces DiDonato's long-awaited Rossini recital...
Although the demands that Colbran placed on her voice led to her premature decline –
she seems to have peaked around the age of 30, as did Maria Callas – DiDonato is going strong at 40.
Her control is formidable in florid gems such as "Tanti affetti in tal momento"...from La donna del lago and
"Bel raggio lusinghier"...from Semiramide. The variations, which DiDonato mostly composed herself,
are extremely elaborate in ways that recall artists of a much earlier era. Listen to her perfect high
trill 90 seconds into "Fra il padre"...to the rapid final section (or cabaletta)
of "Tanti affetti," and the force with which she races through the showpiece's final runs.
If this isn't great singing, what is?
But fasten your seatbelt when DiDonato gets going, as in the finale to Act 3 of Armida
(which is set in an encampment of crusaders outside Jerusalem). As cymbals clatter, percussion thunders,
and lines such as "Destroy everything here, everything" (Distrutto tutto qui resti, tutto) are hurled off,
you may find yourself shouting "Brava!" at your loudspeakers. At some point in her San Francisco
Performancessponsored recital on Nov. 16, the corn-fed "Diva from Kansas" will likely take your breath away.
This is one take-no-prisoners mezzo.
– Jason Victor Serinus, San Francisco Classical Voice, November 2009
Best CD of 2009:
Opera fans are a contentious lot, furiously sparring over the relative worth of leading singers,
but a rare consensus has emerged around Joyce DiDonato, the down-to-earth mezzo with the
gleaming voice and charming blog.
She has the technique, the passion, the musical intelligence, and the instinct for the next right move.
On her new collection of Rossini arias, inspired by the early nineteenth-century diva Isabella Colbran,
DiDonato proceeds effortlessly from the prayerful lyricism of "Giusto ciel, in tal periglio" to the
gleeful coloratura of "Bel raggio lusinghier" and on to the demonic rage of the "Armida" finale
(audio above; crank it up). This finely dazzling disc is my pick for the best CD of 2009..
*EDITOR'S CHOICE OF THE MONTH
Joyce DiDonato is on thrilling form in these devoted dedications to Colbran:
DiDonato is proving herself one of the most delightful artists of our time.
She sings with a rare purity of tone, ease on the high Bs, an impressive degree of
technical skill and lively powers of characterisation.
She is invigoratingly precise in her placement, fluent in scale work and well furnished with staccati and trills...
the difficult repertoire is sung with charm and mastery, and from all we read, their original exponent,
to whom the recital is dedicated, is worthily honoured.
– John Steane, Gramophone, December 2009
It seemed unlikely that golden-throated mezzo Joyce DiDonato would be able to trump her sensational Handel disc,
but trump it she does with this collection of arias written by Rossini for his wife, Isabella Colbran.
DiDonato's technique is flawless: scales, trills and long phrases pour out of her with ease.
But she's also one of those once-in-a-generation singers who can invest all the coloratura fiddle-faddle with real emotional depth.
An astonishing artist at her peak..
Classic FM, December 2009
CLASSICAL DISC OF THE WEEK
DiDonato, arguably the finest Rossini mezzo on disc since the young Cecilia Bartoli
...opts for scenes that have recently become standard recital rep: Elena's
Tanti affetti from La donna del lago, Desdemona's long Act III scene including the
Willow Song from Otello, and Semiramide's Bel raggio lusinghier – a Callas-Sutherland-Caballé speciality.
DiDonato's pearly tone and easy coloratura make this difficult music sound effortless:
she sports a more than acceptable trill, brilliant high staccato notes and long-breathed cantilena lines,
prerequisites for a singer of the bel canto repertoire. Even if her Italian is not quite as
punctilious as Bartoli's, she makes the strongest possible case for the revival of these
marvellous operas. She makes her debut as Elena next year – eventually to be seen at Covent Garden –
but this disc whets the appetite for her Desdemona, her Armida, her Anna (Maometto Secondo) and her Elisabetta.
This is outstanding Rossini singing by any standards, idiomatically accompanied.
– Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, November 2009
Composer Gioachino Rossini found his biggest musical inspiration in diva Isabella Colbran, his wife for 15 years.
American soprano Joyce DiDonato unleashes her extraordinary voice and dramatic skills to spectacular effect
on this 16-aria Rossini collection, with four good vocal guests.
The orchestra and chorus from the St. Cecilia Academy in Rome are in fine form under conductor Edoardo Müller.
Toronto Star, December 2009
If Angela Gheorghiu is the pre-eminent Puccini interpreter of her era, then Joyce DiDonato surely
lays confident claim to the equivalent position regarding Rossini, a status cemented in unorthodox
manner this year when, despite breaking her leg on the opening night, she completed the five-night
run in The Barber of Seville at Covent Garden.
Here she focuses on arias inspired and premiered by Isabella Colbran, Rossini's wife and the supreme diva of her era.
It's a majestic display from first to last, DiDonato balancing precision and emotion whether she's delivering the subtle
"Giusto ciel, in tal periglio" from Maometto II, or negotiating the high, almost laughing line of "Fra il padre, e fra l'amante"
from La Donna Del Iago, which she's scheduled to bring to London soon.
–Andy Gill, The Independent, November 2009
* * * * Nothing, as we know, defeats the American mezzo Joyce DiDonato. At Covent Garden in July
she broke a leg during The Barber of Seville, yet carried on singing with a stick and a crutch.
The "yankeediva" (her blogging name) is equally unfazed by any powerhouse competition in the field of
coloratura singing. Give DiDonato a high-voltage trill, a rush of arpeggios, stratospheric leaps and
the other vocal flights – this Rossini disc is full of them – and she conquers every time.
Her new disc follows the current fashion for shaping recitals around the repertoire of legendary singers from history.
With trumpet fanfares of marketing, Cecilia Bartoli has celebrated Maria Malibran and a clutch of castrati.
DiDonato, more quietly, focuses on Malibran's early 19th-century contemporary, the Spanish soprano Isabelle Colbran,
Rossini's muse for a string of serious operas (written mostly for performance in Naples). After 1822, she was also his wife.
DiDonato rode to glory with Rossini's comic mezzo parts, but Colbran's roles (usually not ceiling scrapers,
and thus amenable to the mezzo range) give her the chance for beefier, deeper characterisations.
She's Desdemona, forlorn and despairing, in Otello. She's the sorceress heroine of Armida, who concludes
the CD in barnstorming style by dedicating herself to Vengeance and soaring into billowing smoke on a chariot pulled by dragons.
In everything she does, DiDonato convinces. The taxing theme-and- variations rondo in Armida
slips off her vocal chords like water off a duck's back.
But there's more on display than simple technical triumphs. Her clear diction, controlled breaths and phrasing,
and the diversity of her emotional colouring always bring her characters to life and make each one an individual.
She's particularly touching as Desdemona, in a long Act III chunk centred on the Willow Song. Other operas visited
include La donna del lago (on her stage agenda for the first time next year), Semiramide, and Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra...
Long live the yankeediva.
– Geoff Brown, Times Online, November 2009
Here's another bull's-eye from the wondrous Joyce DiDonato. On her new CD with expert bel canto conductor
Edoardo Müller and Rome's topflight Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the brilliant Kansas mezzo has fashioned
an eloquent tribute to Rossini's wife and frequent inspiration, Isabella Colbran.
A Spanish contralto, Colbran evidently knew no limits when it came to interpretation or vocal range; neither does DiDonato,
who dispenses ravishing sound and technical mastery at altitudes that many sopranos fear. Several of the roles straddle vocal categories;
we're unlikely to hear a more convincing Armida or Semiramide anytime soon. Beyond tonal beauty and musical precision,
DiDonato brings great depth of feeling to sublime pages like "Giusto ciel" from Maometto II and Desdemona's haunting
Willow Song from "the other" Otello. Hers is surely the best-ever recorded performance of "Tanti affetti," the virtuoso
finale from La donna del lago, an opera she'll tackle this season in Geneva and Paris.
The disc even offers a lovely cameo by another American Rossinian superstar, Lawrence Brownlee. Even if your shelves groan
with great Rossini aria discs (Supervìa, Berganza, Horne, Valentini-Terrani, Von Stade, Podles, Bartoli), you need this one,
too. And if you're new to the composer's delights, DiDonato's offering is the place to start: today's gold standard.
– David Shengold, TIME OUT NY, October 2009
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato has been slowly building a major career, and now must certainly
be counted among the most important singers of her generation... As novel as it may at first
seem to have a mezzo-soprano singing this repertoire on disc, all of the selections on
Colbran, the Muse have been recorded by other mezzos, with the exception of the final scene from Armida.
Nevertheless, DiDonato turns in bravura performances to match the very best in several cases.
Taken in sum, the disc is an achievement of outstanding quality. ...
DiDonato moves from strength to strength, delineating her most successful characterizations in the gentler,
more cantabile passages. Her Desdemona is especially satisfying, giving the singer ample opportunity
to run through a challenging range of emotions. Likewise, the opening barcarolle from La donna del lago
and prayer from Maometto II offer models of long-lined, bel canto singing. DiDonato brings great dignity
and flair to the queens Elisabetta and Semiramide, ...her singing here is nearly flawless, exhibiting –
again – crystal clear diction, perfect intonation, and amazingly thrilling ornaments.
Her closing selection is the wonderfully theatrical final vengeance scene from Armida,
and she triumphs completely over every vocal challenge, bringing the angry protagonist vividly to life.
But the crowning glory of this disc is the rondo finale from La donna del lago in which DiDonato pulls out every stop,
tossing off astounding runs, trills, perfectly modulated triplets, and ornaments galore.
She even includes a series of back-and-forth staccati between high b-flat and C, finishing with
a sterling trill of jaw-dropping quality. Given her success in Elena's scenes, it is exciting to know that
DiDonato will assume the entire role next spring. ...
This is a superior disc of repertoire vital to an understanding of Rossini's operatic legacy,
and it belongs in every bel canto collection. DiDonato is on winning form throughout,
and one hopes that she will continue exploring in this vein: there are more than enough remaining
Colbran arias to fill at least one more disc – perhaps two.
And the singing is almost universally fine. If one of the cast is to be named above the rest,
that should be Joyce DiDonato, an outstandingly accomplished Elvira, brilliantly projected,
interestingly conceived, her singing concentrated in tone.
– Gramophone, July 2009
It is a thrill to watch this two-disc Blu-ray recording of Mozart's ever-popular Don Giovanni,
performed last fall at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The high-def experience often feels more vivid than sitting in the auditorium itself.
It is a pleasure to watch great performances like these on a big screen in the comfort of home.
The first-rate cast, crisp orchestral direction of veteran Mozart master Charles Mackerras and unfussy staging by Francesca Zambello add up to terrific opera.
…but Joyce DiDonato blows everyone off the stage whenever she appears as Donna Elvira.
– The Toronto Star , May, 2009
* * * * * Zambello makes Simon Keenlyside's harsh and diabolical Don Giovanni and Kyle Ketelsen's embittered
Leporello a double-act of deadly dependency. This contrasts tellingly with the mutual support and solidarity
of three feisty and independent women: Marina Poplavskaya's noble, almost other-worldly Donna Anna,
Joyce DiDonato's thrillingly anguished, gleamingly voiced Donna Elvira, and Mia Persson's sturdy but sensuous country lass of a Zerlina.
– BBC Music , June, 2009
Alcina, Alan Curtis / Il Complesso Barocco
*Editor's Choice: September Alan Curtis and his cast for Alcina, led by the brilliant Joyce DiDonato, bring such theatrical richness and linguistic precision to a new CD set it's hard to believe this was a studio effort and not the culmination of a lengthy performance run. Here are characterizations of astonishing range and subtlety, with confrontation scenes that sizzle.
At the center of this first-rate cast, DiDonato makes each of Alcina's arias a beautifully shaped emotional moment, from the untroubled "Dì, cor mio," in which Handel's short phrases and DiDonato's perfect trill give the effect of a happily purring kitten, to the final aria "Mi restano le lagrime," for which the singer has drained all femininity and sensuality from her voice, leaving only an intense, tormented thread to shape the jagged and harsh vocal line.
In between, DiDonato relishes the character's contradictions, showing a variety of vocal colors for Alcina's sorcery scene and offering a deeply felt rendition of the great accompanied recitative before the haunted and obsessive "Ombre pallide." In the internalized, tormented "Ah! mio cor," with it's palpitating and fitful accompaniment, the singer suggests outrage, hurt and bewilderment, framed by startling cadenzas for the drawn-out cry on the initial "Ah!"
– Judith Malafronte, Opera News, September 2009
Here mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato brings firebrand fioritura (vocal embellishment), impecably naturalistic recitative, and an inimitable everywoman pathos to the soprano title-role.
Rejected and powerless in Act III, her 'Mi restano le lagrime' displays a vulnerability and candour sufficient to make another performer's Alcina of 2003 (with Les Arts Florissants) appear as blowsy as a B-movie vamp.
– Anna Picard, BBC Music, June 2009
Since 1962, other recordings have shown up…but this new performance may trump them all.
It is the first to use a mezzo as Alcina instead of the usual soprano, and by adhering to Baroque concert pitch, A=415, there's no strain of note.
In addition, using a somewhat heavier voice with a darker tone (and superb diction) we fully understand both Alcina's menace and allure.
Of course, without the right mezzo it would be for nought, but Joyce DiDonato here is just grand, singing with staggering accuracy, better expressiveness than all the competition, great sensuality and insinuation when called for, and true viciousness when angered.
A confused sorceress-in-love, Alcina is multi-faceted and DiDonato paints the complete picture; her despondency makes you feel for her.
– Robert Levine, Classicstoday.com, June 2009
Recording of the month: Joyce DiDonato, who has made an extraordinary name for herself internationally, here gives an astonishing portrayal of the sorceress.
You can take the beauty of her voice for granted: her entrance aria, Di', cor mio is voluptuous and fulsome, a real depiction of the infatuation that comes with love, and to match it DiDonato sings with rich, creamy tone that is quite marvellous.
There is more to her assumption than just beauty, though: the portrayal changes with the character.
She captures venom and hysteria for the dramatic arias that accompany Alcina's steady realisation that she is losing her powers, and her final aria, Mi restano le lagrime, drips with overwhelming poignancy without losing its beauty.
Perhaps her greatest moment, however, is Ombre pallide, the aria that ends Act 2, when Alcina calls to the spirits who she can sense around her but are now refusing to listen.
The first run of the aria carries a mood of quiet desperation, while the da capo is full of understated terror.
DiDonato owns this territory and in this recording she has made herself the greatest Alcina on disc.
– Simon Thompson, Music Web International, May 2009
Editor's Choice: "Joyce DiDonato: a superb Alcina"
This could well be the Alcina we've been waiting for. From the outset Curtis sets the tone - vibrant, alert and alive. He is blessed with a luxury cast of singers, led by the imperious Joyce DiDonato...this Alcina is polished and passionate, the standard of da capo ornamentation unsurpassed.
Technically, DiDonato is superb: her Alcina is a complex, feminine creature, vain and vindictive - listen to her spine-tingling performance of Ombre pallide and the recitative that precedes it in Act 2.
– Julie Anne Sadie, Gramophone, May 2009
This pleasing reading of Handel's fascinating 1735 masterpiece proves, among other things, there's nothing Joyce DiDonato can't do well.
Here, the ace mezzo, blogger and photographer blazes through the soprano title role's rewarding challenges – six splendid arias,
a fabulous trio and yards of well-pointed recitative – while lending the sorceress crystalline sound and a complex, affecting psychological profile.
– David Shengold, TIME OUT NY, May 2009
L'ambitus réduit d'Alcina, qui plafonne, fugacement, au la 4, ne pose aucun problème au mezzo aigu et souple de l'Américaine. Evidemment, il ne suffit pas de posséder les notes pour convaincre.
Sans parler du métal et des couleurs, c'est l'engagement, l'abandon – en vérité le don suprême – qui font toute la différence.
J'ai déjà exprimé ici même mon admiration pour
Joyce DiDonato louant sa technique, éblouissante, son tempérament et une imagination si rare et pourtant essentielle.
Elle incarne avec sensualité la beauté lasse d'Alcina (« Di cor mio, quanto t'amai ») et ses reprises
ne déçoivent pas (« Si son quella », « Ah ! mio cor, schernito sei ! »),
miracles d'invention et d'audace, personnelles et excitantes, comme on aimerait en entendre plus souvent dans ce répertoire.
C'est là un art infiniment précieux et qui vaut à lui seul le détour.
– Bernard Schreuders, Forum Opera, April 2009
Precise in rhythm and stylish in ornamentation, this is an Alcina for Baroque purists who take Handel's
operas seriously rather than those who see it as a tune-filled vehicle for star prima donnas such as
Joan Sutherland or Renée Fleming. Here Joyce DiDonato sings the marvellous title role with
dramatic fire and unfailing musicality..
– Rupert Christiansen, Daily Telegraph, April 2009
The new recording is interesting partly for the casting of a mezzo-soprano in the title role. Anyone wondering about this aspect should worry no further: Joyce DiDonato triumphs completely. Her six solo numbers are phenomenally well worked-out, mixing an intimate and personal response to the text with the technical assurance to spin out long lines and operate in a tessitura that takes her slightly out of her usual comfort zone. There isn't a better Alcina on record.
– Dominic McHugh, MusicalCriticism.com, April 2009
Avec l'enregistrement réalisé en studio par Alan Curtis pour Archiv, en septembre 2007, nous tenons probablement, disonsle d'emblée, l'Alcina la mieux chantée de la discographie. Vocalité, style, affects, compréhension des caractères, rien ne manque et la distribution, fait rare, ne comporte aucun point faible.
Curtis est de ces chefs qui aiment prendre des risques et en faire prendre aux chanteurs. En apprenant qu'il envisageait de confier le rôle-titre à Joyce DiDonato, nous avions été nombreux, admirateurs de la dame, à nous demander si elle pourrait, avec son mezzo d'argent, se couler dans le moule du soprano. Le pari est gagné: vocalement, musicalement et dramatiquement, sa performance est d'une prodigieuse finesse. La cantatrice nous fait en effet partager les émotions de l'héroïne au fil d'un portrait d'une richesse et d'une variété rares, là où ses consoeurs ont souvent tendance à privilégier le profil "vaincu" du personnage. DiDonato sait se montrer révoltée et, quand il le faut, dégager une aura de puissance et de séduction bienvenue (un "Ah! mio cor" d'anthologie).
– Philippe Gelinaud, Opéra, April 2009
The 250th anniversary of the composer's death will be expensive for Handelians if this fabulously well-sung account
of his great "magic" opera of 1735 is a taste of things to come.
Curtis scores with his hand-picked cast and an approach to tempo that avoids extremes.
Some of the vocal decoration of aria repeat sections sounds overelaborate, but its execution cannot be faulted.
Joyce DiDonato's velvety, sensuous mezzo is a surprising choice for Handel's majestically tormented sorceress, darker of voice than Sutherland
…She rises magnificently to the challenges of Alcina's great, wrenching scenes of despair.This is the must-have Alcina on disc.
– Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times (London), March 2009
DiDonato's sorceress Alcina proves a triumph of dramatic fire.
– Geoff Brown, Daily Times (London), March 2009
Furore, Christophe Rousset / Les Talens Lyriques
DISC OF THE MONTH
Joyce DiDonato is a mezzo who seemingly can do no wrong, an image she glowingly sustains with this superb Handel collection, her first solo disc.
Though her singing is unquestionably the main thing here, praise is also in order for her selections,
a group of arias expressing rage and other emotions of characters in distress. From Serse, for instance,
we get not "Ombra mai fu" but the fulminations of "Crude fure degl'orridi abissi", which, with its vivid
declamation, flawless coloratura and riveting intensity, sets the tone for the stunning vocalism to come.
The voice, luscious and resonant, has ample weight without ever sounding heavy,
and the timbre itself has an inherent element of excitement. There is a gutsiness to DiDonato's
sound lacking from that of most mezzos in this repertoire. Indeed, random comparisons with
others reveal that her accounts are invariably the more highly charged, her her singing never lacks discipline.
I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a solo Handel disc this much.
– George Loomis, Opera, February, 2009
This new recital disc of Handel arias finds mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato singing with
the technical bravura and expressive lucidity of a great interpreter.
The theme is simple: DiDonato has culled the operas, including "Teseo," "Hercules," "Ariodante"
and more, for a variety of mad scenes, from blazing displays of vindictive rage to puddles of
near-catatonic grief. The revelation is what a powerful range of emotions can be conjured
up merely by sending a character around the bend mentally, and DiDonato - now unleashing cascades
of note-perfect coloratura, now shaping a lyrical melody with heart-stopping tenderness –
brings a wealth of dramatic potency and musical color to the proceedings.
– Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, February, 2009
La stessa Joyce DiDonato, nelle poche righe introduttive a questo suo nouvo CD, intende confermarlo
e scrive che i personaggi scherniti, traditi e abbandonati, per questo in preda al furore (il titolo
stesso della compilation), altro non sono che vittime di se stessi e delle loro emozioni; si arrovellano
caricandosi di ira vendicativa, salvo poi, nel corso di una stessa aria, lasciarsi andara a momenti
di sconforto che regolano la cifra della loro vulnerabilità, "perfetto specchio - è la cantante stessa a scriverlo -
dei labirinti dell'animo umano". In tal senso questa nuova cifra stilistica di concepire il
belcanto händeliano ha oggi diverse e più o meno apprezzate madrine (la più nota è
ovviamente Cecilia Bartoli) che sostanziano il canto händeliano di rinnovata linfa espressiva, rendendolo più
attuale, lasciandosi alle spalle esempi fino a poco tempo fa ritenuti intoccabili.
Chi avrebbe mai detto, infatti, che ascoltando oggi la Joyce DiDonato il suo Händel potesse apparire forse
meno sontuoso e belcantisticamente rigoglios rispetto a quello "barocchissimo" di
Marilyn Horne, eppure maggiormente rifinito nella tornitura deglie accenti e nei colori che ne fanno uno
strumento di pura teatralità; forse meno inebriante sul piano della pura bellezza dei suoni e della
timbratura dei medesimi, ma articolato con più anima e con ragioni espressive che fanno della
DiDonato una delle campionesse odierne del modo di eseguire modernamente questo repertorio.
La voce, miracolosamente espressiva, ha un controllo della linea su tutta la gamma, con acuti pieni e
penetranti ed accenti che sanno dare espressione ai sensi di gelosia e vendetta cha animano
l'ossessione di rivincita di Medea, pronta a scatenare tutte le sue arti magiche contro
Teseo che non corrisponde il suo amore e che, pertano, la maga intende punire.
Lo fa in arie in cui ai toni confidenziali si alternano le accensioni di recitative accompagnati di forte
impatto … vero biglietto da visita di una cantante dalla tecnica ferratissima, che nelle agilità
del registro grave antepone all'imperiosità (si ascoli "Crude furie degl'orridi abissi" da Serse
"Hence, Iris hence away" da Semele) l'accento nervoso che si ritrova nel travolgente rilievo donato alle pagine di
Deganira da Hercules (sopratutto nell'articolazione tesa, quasi indemoniata, donata all magnifica scena
"Where shall I fly?") e nei virtuosismi brillanti, nettissimi e fluidi di "Sorge nell'alma mia", aria di Tirinto da
Imeneo, "Gelosia spietata Aletto", aria di Alceste da Admeto e "Desterò dall'empia Dita", aria di Melissa da Amadigi.
Vi sono poi altre scene in cui la DiDonato giganteggia, quella da Giulio Cesare, con l'aria di Sesto "L'angue offeso mai riposa",
e quella da Admeto, con la struggente scena iniiziale del protagonista, scritta per il castrato Senesino, campione nello stile
aulico e nel rilievo che sapeva donare a recitativi senza farli sembrare elementi di puro collgamento fra un'aria e l'altra.
Segno che il cantate articolato in ogni sillaba e mobilissimo della DiDonato si carica di una emozionalità
asciutta ma non priva di involi eleganti, inghirlandata da fioriture e, cosa assai rara oggi, anche da ottimi trilli.
Altro vertice del Cd, destinato certo ad imporsi fra i migliori recital händeliani incisi negli ultimi anni, è la
magnifica aria di Ariodante, "Scherza infida", in cui l'abbandono doloroso del protgonista si carica di una liricità
attraversata da accenti febbrili che spesso innervano una vocalità che non conosce abbandoni esangui fini e se stessi,
ma riesce appunto a donare al lirismo una palpito valorizzato al meglio dal complesso barocco Les Talens Lyriques e
dal suo direttore Christophe Rousset, che le offrono accompagnamenti strumentali così espressivi e vitali, talvolta
pervasi da scansioni ritmiche accese e dinamicamente contrastate, da costituire un tutt'uno il talento e la fantasia
espressiva di una cantante di indubbia classe e personalità, che in questo repertorio è ormai una vera regina.
– L'Opera, December, 2008
Fury is not a subject that many singers would choose for their first solo aria disc;
it doesn't exactly promise a relaxing listen. Plus, if you were looking to be noticed,
Handel arias would perhaps not be the best choice in an anniversary year when CD reviewers'
desks are buckling under the weight of a thousand and one recordings of his works. However,
American mezzo Joyce Didonato has scored a triumph with this performance which not only
shows her phenomenal technical talent, but verily crackles with dramatic fire.
The arias are drawn from Serse, Teseo, Guilo Cesare, Admeto, Hercules, Semele, Imeneo,
Ariodante, and Amadigi, so a comprehensive selection. They were recorded live with
Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques at concert performances in April 2008 at
Brussels' Théâtre de la Monnaie. It needs to be said that this is no opportunistic
anniversary recording; Handel's music has featured strongly in Didonato's onstage and
recording career to date, including stage performances of the title roles of Alcina
and Ariodante and a Barbican performance as Hercules' wife which earned her a nomination
for a Laurence Olivier Award. Didonato's evident excitement for this music is evident
in her note in the CD booklet, and the recording itself is stunning throughout.
Technically, she can't be bettered. Her legato is exceptionally smooth, particularly
notably in Ariodante's ''Scherza infida'', her colouratura is dazzling, her high notes
perfect even in the heat of passion, and her dynamic range is a joy. It should go
without saying that Didonato is a brilliant actress, as you don't do a disc of mad scene
arias if drama isn't your forte, but it is still worth drawing attention to.
Her portrayal of Dejanira's grief at the supposed death of Hercules is achingly convincing,
not to mention beautiful. When anger is the prevalent emotion things become particularly
exciting; as Handel's contemporary, William Congreve, once wrote, ''hell has no… fury like a woman scorned'',
and Didonato spits venomous anger like there was no tomorrow. She doesn't fall shy of
lending an element of harshness – almost ugliness – to her voice for the odd phrase either.
All in all, a marvellous solo album debut.
Lyric debutante Joyce DiDonato immediately announced her prodigious vocal quality with a
killer trill in Rosina's brief interjections to 'Se il mio nome.'
'Una voce poco fà' was fine, but it was in 'Contro il cor' that the American mezzo
really strutted her Rossinian pedigree, delivering the aria's complicated runs with
precision and humorous élan.
Nel primo ha brillato la stella incontrastata di Joyce DiDonato, straordinaria Angelina,
che ha mertitato le scroscianti ovazioni tributatele dal pubblico. Le ha meritate per
la classe musicale raffinatissima con la quale ha pattinato sul canto di coloratura rossiniano,
conoscendone ogni segreto e ogni malizia tecnica. Il suo timbro de mezzosoprano acuto,
quasi sopranile in pi di un momento (ideale, quindi, per futuri "ruoli Colbran"...) non
ha avuto nessuna difficoltá ad abbandonarsi alla morbida, dolcissima espansione di un
canto patetico, pastellato, screziato di sfumature dolcissime e toccanti. Paradigmatico
il commovente - si, in Rossini... - duetto del primo atto con l'altrettanto magnifico
Juan Diego Florez. La grande scena finale è stata, poi, sicuramente la meglio cantata da
noi ascoltata nell'ultimo ventennio, in un crescendo di mirabolanti e brillanti variazioni,
sempre di gusto squisito, che hanno letteralmente incantato l'asoltatore. Il pubblico ha
gradito entrambe le "locandine" riservando però il clamore a Florez, e il trionfo - insieme
alla sua "bontà", secondo sottotitolo... - Joyce DiDonato.
In the anguished aria "Do not utter a word, Anatol," from Samuel Barber's "Vanessa," the soprano Lauren Flanigan,
a vocal powerhouse, gave such a visceral performance that you stopped thinking about acoustics. Something similar
happened when the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sang the tender song "Take Care of This House" from Bernstein's musical
"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." Though her voice is lyric and light, her sound is so plush and penetrating and her
singing so direct that you are drawn into her artistry.
Oh dear: the replacement singer for the indisposed star tenor Rolando Villazon hobbled out onto the stage of the Grosses Festspielhaus, wearing a cast on her broken leg, and sat down to sing.
EMPERATRIZ DEL MIDWEST
Furore - fury, rage or passion - is the title of Joyce DiDonato's recent album, focusing on characters
in Handel's operas or oratorios suffering an extremity of jealousy or remorse. Bringing these items to
the concert platform, accompanied (as on disc) by the French period-instrument orchestra Les Talens Lyriques
under Christophe Rousset, the American mezzo showed that her range of technical skills was
fully equal to the tasks Handel sets in this compendium of what are usually termed "rage arias".
Veniva giù
il teatro (Rossini) l'altra sera a Pesaro, non solo alla fine, quando non c'era verso di guadagnare l'uscita per gli applausi scroscianti e per i continui
richiami del pubblico rivolti all'artista, ma anche dopo ogni esibizione in corso di programma: e giustamente, perché Joyce DiDonato ha offerto ai fortunati presenti
in sala un'esibizione che non esitiamo a definire superlativa, e in crescendo di fascinazione rara prodotta sull'ascoltatore, quale da tempo non ci era dato di cogliere.
La grande Maria Malibran, a cui era dedicato il concerto dell'eccellente mezzosoprano americano che si esprime benissimo in italiano e che in corso di performance
artistica sapeva rivolgersi al pubblico in modo piacevolissimo e brillante, non poteva rinvenire "collega" migliore per il doveroso omaggio a lei dovuto in occasione
del bicentenario della nascita.
"Furore! La mezzo américaine
Joyce DiDonato annonçait la couleur en donnant ce titre à un récital d'Airs de Haendel
présenté avec la complicité des Talens Lyriques diriges par Christophe Rousset. Le répertoire écrit par le grand Saxon
lui est familier tant à la scène qu'au disque. L'engagement et la conviction avec lesquels elle habite les caractères
auxquels elle prête voix sont proverbiaux et ont sans doute guidé le choix des extraits. Quand elle déclare que dans
cette musique il est impossible de faire les choses à moitié ou de feindre et que c'est pour cela qu'elle l'aime, elle
résume l'essentiel de sa prestation. Voix superbe aux couleurs affirmées, matrisée du plus ténu des piano au plus
assertif des forte, mise au service des émotions qu'elle exprime avec tant de vérité. On ne passera pas sous silence
la beauté des reprises ornementées des premières sections des aria da capo, ni celle des colorature remarquablement mises en place.
