Coming Soon,
Joyce DiDonato - Stella di Napoli
As Joyce DiDonato prepares to take London by storm in Maria Stuarda next week, we hear that there's an exciting recording project in the can which builds on her formidable expertise in bel canto repertoire - for her next disc, the great American mezzo will focus on music from nineteenth-century Naples, exploring some lesser-known works by familiar composers and also including several world premiere recordings of arias by their more obscure contemporaries.
Named after an 1845 opera by Giovanni Pacini (an aria from which opens the disc), the programme also includes music by Mercadante, Michele Carafa and Carlo Valentini as well as arias from operas by the great triumvirate of bel canto composers: Rossini (Zelmira), Donizetti (Maria Stuarda and Amelia) and Bellini (I Capuleti and Nelly). Riccardo Minasi (currently receiving praise for his outstanding Tamerlano on Naive) will conduct the orchestra and chorus of Lyon Opera; the disc will be released on Warner in September, with a live performance of the programme at the Barbican at the end of the month.
Recent recordings from Joyce DiDonato
Joyce sings the title-role in this 2013 Metropolitan Opera production by Sir David McVicar, opposite Elza van den Heever as Elizabeth I; the New York Times praised her performance as 'a model of singing in which all components of the art form — technique, sound, color, nuance, diction — come together in service to expression and eloquence' .
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
This lovely two-disc compilation - assembled from suggestions from DiDonato's fans - pays testimony to the singer's versatility, with repertoire ranging from Harold Arlen's 'Over the Rainbow' and Richard Rodgers's 'You'll Never Walk Alone' to her trademark Handel and Rossini and even a scene from Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
