Donizetti’s Opera:
On New Year’s Eve 2012, Joyce DiDonato became the first singer to perform the title role in Donizetti’s ‘Maria Stuarda’ at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. This production became, in the words of Opera Magazine, “a high point of the season and of the company’s performance history of bel canto operas”.
And the New York Times wrote:
“The production stars the great American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in the title role … [Her] performance will be pointed to 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.”
This recording is performed by Joyce DiDonato (Maria Stuarda), Elza van den Heever (Elisabetta), Matthew Rose (Talbot), Joshua Hopkins (Cecil), Matthew Polenzani (Leicester), Maria Zifchak (Anna Kennedy), with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Maurizio Benini conducting.
The performance recorded on this DVD took place on January 19th 2013 and was broadcast to cinemas around the world.
Based on a play by Friedrich Schiller, Maria Stuarda achieved new currency in the 1960’s, and the title role has attracted many legendary singers.
Here are Joyce DiDonato and Elza van den Heever in “Maria Stuarda” – the Confrontation Scene:
And next, here is Deborah Voigt, as she interviews Joyce DiDonato during a rehearsal for the Met premiere of Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda”:
Tags: Joyce DiDonato, Maria Stuarda, Metropolitan Opera, Donizetti
