Concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestre Métropolitain

This September, Joyce will make stops in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Montreal, singing a variety of powerful repertoire.

Minneapolis

On September 18 and 19, Joyce DiDonato joins the Minnesota Orchestra, performing Berlioz’s sensuous Les Nuits d’été. The song cycle sets six texts by Théophile Gautier, and traces a journey of love, from youthful innocence to the depths of grief to a dream of eternal love. 

Joyce’s interpretation of this lush work has earned her rave reviews, with Classical Source describing it as “ravishingly sung” and The Times writing, “When Joyce DiDonato was singing ‘Le spectre de la rose’ from Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été — her voice so tender, so poignant, so full of meaning — it really was hard to imagine anything more perfect.”

Under the baton of the Minnesota Orchestra’s music director, Thomas Søndergård, the orchestra will also play Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, Connesson’s Céléphaïs, from The Cities of Lovecraft, and Strauss’ Suite from Der Rosenkavalier. 

Chicago

Joyce gives her first performance as Artist-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on September 20 as part of the CSO’s Symphony Ball gala.

Led by conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaide, Joyce will join the orchestra in a celebratory program of orchestral lieder by Richard Strauss, “Habanera” from Bizet’s Carmen, stirring overtures from Weber’s Oberon and Wagner’s Tannhäuser, and selections from Mendelssohn’s enchanting A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Montreal

On September 23, Joyce joins the Orchestre Métropolitain for Mahler’s sweeping Symphony No. 3. Scored for full orchestra, two choirs, and mezzo-soprano, this vast six-movement symphony is inspired by Nietzsche and the natural world, inviting listeners to find solace and meaning in the beauty of the world around us.

Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin for this performance, is at the helm of this large-scale work, which also features the Chœur Métropolitain and Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal. This is not the first time Joyce and Yannick have performed this piece together; Bachtrack described their performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra as “bold and brilliant” and remarked that Joyce “sang the haunting ‘Zarathustra’s Midnight Song’ from Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra with remarkable clarity, fluidity and intensity.”