Joyce Didonato Brings Multimedia Recital IN WAR AND PEACE - HARMONY THROUGH MUSIC To Carnegie Hall, 12/15

Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonatooffers her latest project, In War & Peace: Harmony through Music, on Thursday, December 15 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Ms. DiDonato is joined by early music orchestra Il Pomo d'Oro, conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev from the harpsichord. The performance also features choreography and dance by Manuel Palazzo. Directed by Ralf Pleger, the concert includes works from her new album of the same name featuring a collection of arias from Baroque operas with lighting by Henning Blum and video by Yousef Iskandar. The program is divided into two sections: 'War;' and 'Peace.' Both contain music by Purcell and Handel-including Dido's Lament from Dido and Aeneas and Almirena's "Lascia ch'io pianga" fromRinaldo.

"Perhaps my most personal project to date," is how Joyce DiDonato describes In War & Peace: Harmony through Music. She hopes it will help us find an answer to a vitally important question: "In the midst of chaos, how do you find peace?"

In creating this project, Ms. DiDonato's aim is to "steer conversation and discourse ... to help all of us find peace in our lives in a dynamic way ... As I have tried to convey in this selection of music, the power to bravely tip the scales towards peace lies firmly within every single one of us." To read more about Ms. DiDonato's inspiration behind this project, click here.

In War & Peace: Harmony through Music was recorded with Il Pomo d'Oro under conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, and was released on November 4 by Warner Classics. More details on the project, including video excerpts, can be viewed at inwarandpeace.com.

About the Artist
A multi-Grammy Award winner, recognized for the 2016 Best Classical Solo Vocal Album (Joyce and Tony: Live at Wigmore Hall) and the 2012 Best Classical Vocal Solo, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonatoentrances audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed "perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation" by The New Yorker. With a voice "nothing less than 24-carat gold" according to the Times of London, Ms. DiDonato has soared to the top of the music industry both as a performer and a fierce advocate for the arts, gaining international prominence in operas by Handel and Mozart as well as through her wide-ranging, acclaimed discography. She is also highly acclaimed for the Bel Canto roles of Rossini and Donizetti with the Financial Times judging her recent performances as Elena in La donna del Lago as "simply the best singing I've heard in years."

Much in demand on the concert and recital circuit, she has recently held residencies at London's Barbican Centre, toured extensively in South America, Europe and Asia and appeared as guest soloist at the BBC's Last Night of the Proms. She was a Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist in the 2014-2015 season, curating a multi-faceted series of concerts and taking part in a range of education and community programs created by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. Recent highlights in opera have included her first Charlotte in Massenet's Werther for The Royal Opera under Sir Antonio Pappano, the title role in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at The Metropolitan Opera, for The Royal Opera and at the Liceu in Barcelona; the title role in Handel's Alcina on tour with the English Concert and Harry Bicket (including an acclaimed performance of the work at Carnegie Hall), and Marguerite in Berlioz's La damnation de Faust with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle.

Ms. DiDonato opened her 2016-2017 season in a gala concert with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra under Ludovic Morlot. This season, she also collaborates in concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti and the Berliner Philharmoniker under Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and presents a recital with Philippe Jordan in Paris. On the opera stage, she makes her much anticipated debut in the title role of Rossini's Semiramide in a new production at the Bavarian State Opera under Michele Mariotti; Dido (Berlioz's Les Troyens) under John Nelson in Strasbourg; and Sesto (Mozart's La clemenza di Tito) under Nézet-Séguin in Baden-Baden. In spring 2017, she performs the title role in Handel's Ariodante on tour with the English Concert and Harry Bicket, including an April 30 stop at Carnegie Hall.

An exclusive recording artist with Erato/Warner Classics, Ms. DiDonato's 2016 recording-Joyce & Tony Live at Wigmore Hall-was selected as "le choix de France Musique." Other recordings include Stella di Napoli, a sumptuous Bel Canto banquet including little-known gems alongside music by Bellini, Rossini, and Donizetti. Her Grammy-Award-winning recording Diva Divo comprises arias by male and female characters, celebrating the rich dramatic world of the mezzo-soprano. Her next recording, Drama Queens, was also exceptionally well received both on disc and in performance on several international tours. A retrospective of her first ten years of recordings entitled ReJoyce! was released in 2013. Other honors include the Gramophone Artist of the Year and Recital of the Year awards, three German Echo Klassik Awards as Female Singer of the Year, and an induction into the Gramophone Hall of Fame.

Program Information
Thursday, December 15 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-Soprano
Il Pomo d'Oro
Maxim Emelyanychev, Conductor and Harpsichord
Manuel Palazzo, Choreographer and Dancer

Joyce DiDonato, Executive Producer
Ralf Pleger, Director
Henning Blum, Lighting Designer
Yousef Iskandar, Video Designer

IN WAR & PEACE: HARMONY THROUGH MUSIC

WAR
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL "Scenes of horror, scenes of woe" from Jephtha
LEONARDO LEO "Prendi quel ferro, o barbaro!" from L'Andromaca
EMILIO DE' CAVALIERI Sinfonia from Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo
Henry Purcell Chacony in G Minor, Z. 730
Henry Purcell Dido's Lament from Dido and Aeneas
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL "Pensieri, voi mi tormentate" from Agrippina
CARLO GESUALDO "Tristis est anima mea"
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL "Lascia ch'io pianga" from Rinaldo
PEACE
Henry Purcell "They tell us that you mighty powers" from The Indian Queen
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL "Crystal Streams in Murmurs Flowing" from Susanna
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL "Da tempeste" from Giulio Cesare
ARVO PÄRT Da pacem Domine
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL "Augelletti, che cantata" from Rinaldo
NICCOLÒ JOMMELLI "Par che di Giubilo" from Attilio Regolo

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