Alcina on tour

CARNEGIE HALL – NEW YORK CITY

“Joyce DiDonato is the most incandescent singer on today’s classical music scene, and on Sunday afternoon, even Carnegie Hall didn’t seem large enough to contain her voice and expressive presence . . . Every mood and dynamic seems addressed directly to the listener, with no dramatic barrier. The rich sound and incredible power of her voice are apparent, and underneath is a level of intensity of thought and feeling that is rare for any performing artist, in any field . . . DiDonato was astonishingly commanding.”
George Grella – New York Classical Review

“For four hours, Carnegie was Handel heaven . . . To convey the mystique of a sorceress, Ms. DiDonato wore an exotic gray dress with puffy shoulders and a punkish hairstyle. But she did not need a costume to practice sorcery on her audience. This she did with her brilliant, plush and charismatic singing. Though Alcina is a soprano role, Ms. DiDonato tossed off chilling, full top notes and floated finespun pianissimo phrases.”
Anthony Tommasini – The New York Times

“The nearly uncut performance unfurled over four hours, partly because the audience was cheering as if the singers were hitting home runs. Which they were . . . DiDonato’s artistry continues to burgeon. Now a more thoughtful artist, she had two arias that began with a long held note, colored so effectively that, in a few seconds, she delivered most of the necessary emotional content of what was to come. Her coloratura technique is beyond accurate. What’s important is that she makes it speak to the aria’s psychological state. As a stage presence, her conspiratorial self irony was immediately inviting . . .”
David Patrick Stearns – WQXR Operavore

“. . . after a solid four hours of 18th century arias, everyone in the place jumped to their feet to shout “Brava!” Alcina offers a superb diva role . . . the high tessitura seemed to land her in the most powerful and interesting area of her voice, right around the top of the staff. Her cries of fury thundered and blazed in Carnegie Hall, quite the contrast to her soft-focus Rossini Cenerentola at the Met last season.”
James Jorden – New York Observer

 

THE BARBICAN – LONDON

“ . . . a singer at the height of her powers . . . it was Joyce DiDonato who held us in thrall. As the ruthless, desperate enchantress whose charms and powers are tragically fading, she radiated dazzling glamour and authority – abetted by a magnificent coiffure and some sumptuous Vivienne Westwood couture, as well as a regal deportment and command of gesture that was always histrionically appropriate. What more can one say about her singing that hasn’t been said a thousand times now . . . she is absolute mistress of her art, with an instrument totally obedient to her will. So if this isn’t vocal perfection, I don’t know what is. Two of Alcina’s arias represent the zenith of Handel’s genius, and DiDonato interpreted them with the utmost imaginative intensity. During the delicate hesitancies of “Si, son quella”, one felt that time itself had paused to listen, while the agonized “Ah! mio cor” vacillated on the cusp of exquisite pain and pleasure – almost too beautiful to bear.”
Rupert Christiansen – The Telegraph

“. . . at the core of it all was DiDonato . . . It takes a lot of confidence to strip everything right back before you’ve had a chance to show it all off properly, but Act I’s “Si, son Quella” gained for every decibel and ounce of vibrato that DiDonato subtracted from it. From this early vulnerability she swelled to vengeful fury for a “Ma Quando Tornerai” in which coloratura was less embellishment and more spontaneous outpouring of bile, so organic were its convulsive floods of sound . . . there was no doubting the magic of this performance . . . Though if any house does finally manage to persuade DiDonato to take the role in a fully-staged production, I’ll be first in line for tickets…”
Alexandra Coghlan – theartsdesk.com

“DiDonato certainly looked every inch the magical and slightly scary enchantress. Suffice to say that her qualities of technical command, steely control and empathetic characterization made for an outstanding Alcina.”
John-Pierre Joyce – musicOMH.com

“As for those mezzos, well, you could hardly wish for more . . . DiDonato gave the title role seductive malice, together with a voice of radiant beauty, and a dazzling technical display, from a heart-stopping messa di voce at the repeat in “Ah! Mio cor!” to the fireworks in “Ma quando tornerai”. Catch this if you can.”
Laura Battle – Financial Times

“The role is associated with high sopranos and she is a mezzo: it says much for her technique that she sounded comfortable in sustained passages in her upper registers; and it says even more for her originality that she frequently deployed vocal decorations below the melodic line rather than above it, often to startling effect.”
Tim Ashley – The Guardian

 

 EL BALUARTE – PAMPLONA AND AUDITORIO NACIONAL DE MUSICA – MADRID

 “Ms. DiDonato combines it all. She has a very attractive voice, impeccable technique, an impressive ease in agilities and, finally, a capacity to move available only to the very best singers. Her entire performance was outstanding, but if I had to single out just one moment, I would choose the aria “Si, son quella” in Act I. Outstanding as she was in Pamplona, she was even better in Madrid, where the aria “Ah, mio cor, Schernito sei” bordered on true perfection. A GREAT ARTIST, in capital letters.”
José Mª Irurzun – Seen and Heard International