Joyce DiDonato: Bringing war and peace to the Bing
East Bay Times
by Paul Freeman
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When a glorious voice, like Joyce DiDonato’s, is combined with an epic program, the results can be spectacular. That’s the case with “In War and Peace: Harmony Through Music,” which she will present at Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall on Friday, Dec. 2.
It’s also the title of the opera sensation’s dramatic new album.
DiDonato tells The Daily News, in an email interview, “I think the key lies in the second part of the title: ‘Harmony Through Music.’ My hope is that as this album reflects the two worlds of war and peace that we seem to constantly waver between as a society. This particular musical journey will remind people they have a choice in which side they participate in.”
Selecting the pieces was an organic process. “In many ways, I feel the pieces found me. I have long wanted to record the towering pieces of ‘Dido’s Lament’ [from the opera ‘Dido and Aeneas’ by Henry Purcell] and ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’ [from Handel’s “Rinaldo”], which helped me to settle on this particular theme. Once that was determined, the other pieces quite nearly just appeared — and the album was set!”
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