Joyce DiDonato to Release New Album Next Month

Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will release her new album Stella di Napoli on September 2, returning to bel canto to celebrate the birth of the genre in 19th-century Naples. This latest project follows the success of her GrammyTM-winning recording Diva, Divo, her crowd-sourced 'Best Of' reJOYCE and her collection of lesser-known Baroque arias Drama Queens.

On Stella di Napoli, the beloved American singer brings her "flair and power...intelligence and taste" (The New Yorker) to little-known arias by Mercadante, Michele Carafa, Carlo Valentini and Giovanni Pacini, whose 1845 opera gives the album its title. Joyce worked closely with Italian conductor Riccardo Minasi, whose previous projects include Bellini's Norma with Cecilia Bartoli, to bring three unjustly neglected arias to life in new editions and world premiere recordings.

Alongside these rarely-heard gems, Joyce also presents music by the three bel canto greats - Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti - including Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, a tour-de-force signature role for Joyce. Her triumphant performance in the Metropolitan Opera's 2012 production of the work was recently screened in cinemas and released on DVD.

Joyce will launch the album with a special performance in New York on October 3rd and will perform bel canto repertoire at Carnegie Hall throughout the season as part of the "Joyce DiDonato Perspectives" series there.

TRACKLISTING:

1. GIOACHINO ROSSINI - Zelmira: Riedi al soglio

2. GIOVANNI PACINI - Stella di Napoli: Ove t'aggiri, o barbaro

3. VINCENZO BELLINI - Adelson e Salvini: Dopo l'oscuro nembo

4. GIOVANNI PACINI - Saffo: Flutto che muggi... Teco dall'are pronube... L'ama ognor qual io l'amai

5. MICHELE CARAFA - Le nozze di Lammermoor: L'amica ancor non torna...Oh, di sorte crudel

6. GAETANO DONIZETTI - Elisabetta al castello di Kenilworth: Par che mi dica ancora

7. GAETANO DONIZETTI - Maria Stuarda: Io vi rivedo alfin...Deh! Tu di un'umile preghiera

8. CARLO VALENTINI - Il sonnambulo: Lasciami... Se il mar sommesso mormora

9. SAVERIO MERCADANTE - La vestale: Se fino al cielo ascendere

iTunes Bonus track:

VINCENZO BELLINI - I Capuleti e i Montecchi: Tu sola, o mia Giulietta... Deh! tu, bell'anima

Joyce DiDonato mezzo-soprano

Orchestre et Chœur de l'Opéra national de Lyon

Riccardo Minasi

PERFORMANCE DATES

September 12-14, 2014 - Concert, Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City, MO

October 3, 2014 - Stella di Napoli launch concert, New York, NY

October 26, 2014 - Perspectives - Handel's Alcina, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

November 4, 2014 - Perspectives - Recital, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

February 5, 2014 - Perspectives - Recital, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

February 16-March 14, 2014 - La Donna del Lago, The Metropolitan Opera, New York, NY

Februrary 18, 2014 - Concert, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

March 18, 2015 - Perspectives - Carnegie Hall, New York, NY (including music from Stella di Napoli)

May 16, 2015 - Recital, The Broad State, Santa Monica, CA

May 19, 2015 - Recital, The Schubert Club, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Saint Paul, MN