{"id":8228,"date":"2012-11-12T07:49:47","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T11:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=8228"},"modified":"2013-05-07T05:38:50","modified_gmt":"2013-05-07T09:38:50","slug":"drama-queen-of-the-year-visits-berlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=8228","title":{"rendered":"Drama Queen of the Year visits Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-8228 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?attachment_id=8238'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/publicity-photos1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?attachment_id=8240'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/B008R9QB18.01._SX355_SCLZZZZZZZ_V386173011_1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>By Rebecca Schmid<\/p>\n<p>Fans of Joyce DiDonato may find it hard to fathom that one of today\u2019s leading bel canto singers and Musical America\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/campaign.r20.constantcontact.com\/render?llr=pqoo9ndab&amp;v=001kzo9741iy2rZbp211RXEZwKz3xswc_VX-BSb4mnnShcXayPEdaeElOCFw2MDZBxUj1q2lQBcipL1LmKGf1mXKL5iMHx0JqEDrts4PP-3CARgldTCYLB_ng%3D%3D\">Vocalist of the Year<\/a> is just spreading her stardom to Germany. The Kansas native has sung only once at a Berlin opera house, performing Rosina in <em>Il barbiere di Siviglia <\/em>at the Deutsche Oper, and made her recital debut in the German capital last spring. Fortunately for us northerners, she is reversing the trend with a tour around her new album, <em>Drama Queens <\/em>(released on Virgin records). Together with the ensemble Il Complesso Barocco, she made the Konzerthaus Berlin her third stop on November 7 after traveling through the German cities of Baden-Baden and Bremen. The concert travels on to Hannover and Vienna before coming stateside.<\/p>\n<p>DiDonato revisits a passion for baroque with this project, which compiles the arias of abandoned, forlorn and vengeful queens. The result plunges the listener into the tortured emotional world of a female archetype that provided the backbone of operas from Handel\u2019s <em>Giulio Cesare <\/em>to <em>Octavia <\/em>by the little-known composer Reinhard Keiser, not to mention the many Italian composers who grounded the tradition. As DiDonato explained at the end of the recital, credit goes to Il Complesso Barocco founder Alan Curtis for spending \u201ca lot of time in dusty libraries.\u201d The conductor, apparently conserving his energy, was not present for the Berlin concert and ceded direction to the concert master Dmitry Sinkovksy. <\/p>\n<p>The somewhat bare stage of the Konzerthaus\u2019 main hall contrasted with DiDonato\u2019s regal appearance in a red corset dress by Vivienne Westwood, which expanded into a full-scale bustle for the second half of the concert. The program, at least from a dramaturgical perspective, seamlessly alternated arias selected from <em>Drama Queens <\/em>with instrumental interludes. While the singer appeared somewhat nervous sitting onstage during a Scarlatti Sinfonia which proceeded her opening, a sensual account of the Cesti aria \u201cIntorno all\u2019idol mio,\u201d she immediately abandoned herself to the role of the spurned queen Ottavia upon rising for the Monteverdi aria \u201cDisprezzata regina.\u201d The original instruments of Il Complesso Barocco underscored her mix of self-pity and rage with groaning textures.<\/p>\n<p>One of DiDonato\u2019s most powerful moments emerged in \u201cPianger\u00f2 la sorte mia\u201d from Handel\u2019s <em>Giulio Cesare<\/em>. DiDonato&#8217;s powers of expression easily rise to the ranks of singers such as Beverly Sills and Cecilia Bartoli who have championed this role. The nearly choked timbre of her perfectly restrained pianissimo in the da capo section reached the tear jerking point with a break in accompaniment on the final line \u201cfinch\u00e9 vita\u2026in petto avr\u00f2\u201d (as long\u2026as I have life in my breast). She brought the same dramatic depth and technical control, trilling precisely in time with Sinkovksy, to a more rare musical gem, the Giacomelli aria \u201cSposa, son disprezzata,\u201d in which the Princess Irene of Trebisond laments her unfaithful husband (not an uncommon sentiment in this compilation). <\/p>\n<p>The aria \u201cMadre diletta, abbraciami\u201d by the Venetian Giovanni Porta\u2019s <em>Ifgenia in Aulide <\/em>emerged with lyricism perfectly <em>sul filo<\/em> from DiDonato and elegant phrasing from Sinkovksy, who savoured his melodies increasingly as the evening unfolded. His performance was at its best in Vivaldi\u2019s \u201cPisendel\u201d Concerto as his baroque violin seemed to weep in the slow inner movement. The Orlandini aria \u201cDa torbida procella,\u201d the opening track of <em>Drama Queens<\/em>, followed smoothly with its propulsive, storm-tossed textures evoking the Queen Berenice\u2019s infatuation with the Emperor Titus.<\/p>\n<p>DiDonato closed the concert with \u201cBrilla nell\u2019alma\u201d from Handel\u2019s <em>Alessandro<\/em>, an especially compelling number in the German composer\u2019s artful assimilation of what the album\u2019s program notes explain was the newly fashionably Neapolitan style with its static chordal accompaniment. As on recording, DiDonato soared through rapid coloratura runs that capture Rossane\u2019s glee in having pinned down Alexander the Great and gave a purely instrumental cadenza, audibly shaped by the natural sounds of Il Complesso Barocco.<\/p>\n<p>As a first encore, DiDonato offered the melancholic aria \u201cLasciami piangere\u201d from Keiser\u2019s <em>Octavia<\/em>, joking that Obama\u2019s re-election allowed her to express the protagonist\u2019s wish to cry and die in solitude without actually having to mean it. The following account of Berenice\u2019s vengeful aria \u201cCol versar, barbaro, il sangue,\u201d in which the Queen threatens suicide upon the Emperor\u2019s announcement that he won\u2019t marry a woman of non-Roman heritage, brought the group together with even more electric energy than in the body of the concert. The audience was clearly smitten by her natural thespian presence. A reprisal of \u201cDa torbida procella\u201d ended the evening on a more uplifting note in matters of imperial love. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rebeccaschmid.info\/\">rebeccaschmid.info<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:34px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=8228\" send=\"false\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rebecca Schmid Fans of Joyce DiDonato may find it hard to fathom that one of today\u2019s leading bel canto singers and Musical America\u2019s Vocalist of the Year is just spreading her stardom to Germany. The Kansas native has sung only once at a Berlin opera house, performing Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[927],"tags":[1775,1779,1774,1773,1085,1771,1770,1777,1772,1780,1778,1776],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8228"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8228"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11051,"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8228\/revisions\/11051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}