ARTS IN ACTION: Spitfire mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and STELLA DI NAPOLI to shine over Brooklyn

Live from the Gowanus Ballroom: Joyce DiDonato sings selections from Stella di Napoli in Brooklyn on 3 October [Photo by Pari Dukovic, © Warner Classics/ERATO]

The rare junctions of great music with great musicians are almost always events in the most exuberant sense of the term. Even rarer are events in which serendipitous circumstances enable audiences throughout the world to embark together on artistic adventures that strive to uncover new vistas of long-forgotten landscapes. Timed to celebrate the widely-acclaimed recent release of her ERATO disc entitled Stella di Napoli [reviewed here], superstar mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will offer performances of music from the disc to the audience at Brooklyn’s Gowanus Ballroom and via Livestream to listeners worldwide on Friday, 3 October. Co-sponsored by Warner Classics/ERATO and LoftOpera, the concert will take Ms. DiDonato to one of New York’s most innovative Arts spaces, the magnificently-converted Civil War-era factory in the Gowanus Industrial Arts Complex that is home to the Ballroom.

In an international career encompassing an unusually extensive repertory ranging from Monteverdi and Händel to Mark Adamo and Jake Heggie, Ms. DiDonato has displayed special affinity for bel canto. Stella di Napoli is the singer’s journey to the source of bel canto—Naples in the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century. With invigorating accounts of arias by Bellini, Carafa, Donizetti, Mercadante, Pacini, Rossini, and Valentini, Stella di Napoli is the work of a phenomenal singer in her prime. Ms. DiDonato’s concert in the Gowanus Ballroom will transfer her exploration from the studio to the vibrant atmosphere of live performance. Doors open at 19:00 EDT on Friday, 3 October, and Ms. DiDonato takes the stage at 20:00 EDT. The Livestream feed will begin at 21:00 EDT and can be accessed by clicking here or watching below. LoftOpera’s November production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia will also be previewed during the event.

It was recently announced that Ms. DiDonato’s Carnegie Hall recital on 4 November, A Journey through Venice, will be streamed online, as well.

Visit Joyce DiDonato’s Official Website to learn more about her upcoming appearances, including her tour with The English Concert in Händel’s Alcina.

For more information about Stella di Napoli, visit the Warner Classics/ERATO website.