KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Mezzo–soprano Joyce DiDonato celebrated her birthday last Sunday in song, performing a splendid recital of Rossini and Haydn for an audience of more than a thousand. The Kansas City native has cultivated a devoted hometown following and rightly so. DiDonato has performed starring roles on many of opera’s greatest stages the world over, including the Met, La Scala, Covent Garden, and l’Opéra Bastille. Demonstrating some of her signature Rossini and Haydn repertory, Sunday’s Harriman-Jewell recital at the Folly Theater saw DiDonato take to the stage in an elegant greyish–purple gown with gathered fabric and sporting a glittering diamond bracelet and ring. The audience was already in a jovial mood before the concert began, thanks to the spring-like weather outside.

Haydn Scena di Berenice was a massive opening number running the gamut of emotional states as well as presenting a full spectrum of vocal virtuosity. I was particularly taken with the arietta “Non partir, bell’idol mio.” This was an eye–of–the–storm moment in the Scena, where Berenice’s vulnerability was brought to the fore with a lighter, pure vocal tone and peppered with several pristinely–executed trills.

A selection of songs by Rossini, DiDonato’s other signature composer, followed the Haydn. The “L’invito” number was impressive for the singer’s unusual coupling of light vocal agility and, when necessary, substantial volume and power. I was frustrated, however, by the diction in the last two Rossini songs and the Chaminade Songs, all of which were sung in French. Though French is rife with silent letters and elided sounds, the text was too light on most of the pronounced consonants, with the exception of “ch” and “s” sounds, leaving the text difficult to make out. Otherwise, these were still beautiful numbers, with the patron beside me telling her companion at intermission how she was moved by the sentiments of Rossini’s lullaby, “Le Dodo des enfants.” The songs of Cécile Chaminade were just as DiDonato described prior to performance: lovely, effervescent, and light. (The singer spoke at regular intervals to the audience about her pieces, taking up a microphone tucked inside the piano—a trick she admitted she “stole” from Renée Fleming’s Harriman-Jewell concert last Fall.)

Reappearing after intermission in a more A-line red gown covered in an abundance of gold sequins, the program continued with “Assisa appiè d’un salice” from Rossini’s Otello.  A stirring, languid introduction by French–born pianist David Zobel was followed by a beautiful performance by DiDonato of highly-ornamented text.

I appreciated DiDonato’s spoken note on Reynaldo Hahn’s set of five “Veneziana.” The songs were to be sung in a Venetian–style dialect and were first performed on one of Venice’s famed canals. The singer related how the composer had put an upright piano on a gondola and moored it at a busy bridge intersection for the premiere performance. One could easily imagine these pieces in that setting—particularly the second, “La Barcheta.” It had a siren–like chorus on “ah” accompanied with a delicate, harp-like texture by Zobel that called to mind water lapping at a boat.

Vincenzo Di Chiara’s “La Spagnola” brought the program to a memorable close as DiDonato tried to play off of her recital partner. Looking at Zobel and feigning seductiveness, she sang an a cappella melody without garnering a reaction from the pianist. She broke character, laughing, and remarked, “So French!” The piece picked back up with Zobel’s accompaniment as he shook his head, looking a bit embarrassed to have been unexpectedly drug into the act.

Three encores followed, beginning with “Voi che sapete,” a number chosen in honor of a friend who called out the request of the common conservatory study piece at the end of DiDonato’s last Kansas City recital. This is perhaps the closest one comes to the art song equivalent of calling out “Freebird.”

“We have another piece,” DiDonato announced, qualifying, “we’re not going to get five in like Ms. Fleming!” The singer continued with remarks about how she was inspired by the recent ‘peaceful protests’ in Egypt before launching into Rossini’s “Tanti Affetti in tal momento” from La donna del lago. Perhaps one of the highlights of the afternoon, this piece was incredibly ornate and virtuosic. A particular thrilling moment came at the line “Tu sapesti a me donar,” which saw the mezzo–soprano singing a high arpeggio in a truly soprano register. The arpeggio gradually became a trill that then finished the word “donar” on a low contralto note, all in one breath.

An immediate standing ovation took place. While taking another curtain call, the singer tripped over her own dress as she reclaimed her spot in front of the piano—a gaffe DiDonato forewarned happens to her often on the stage. However, having had adequate practice at such stumbles, DiDonato turned it into a twirl–past–the–piano moment, finishing facing the crowd with her right hand raised up in a gymnast pose and smiling modestly. Just a moment later Clark Morris, Executive and Artistic Director of the Harriman–Jewell Series, entered from stage left wheeling in a large birthday cake. The audience of one thousand broke into a spontaneous chorus of “Happy Birthday” to a thoroughly–surprised and nearly–overwhelmed DiDonato. The singer then finished her appearance with a stirring rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

What a great birthday for Joyce DiDonato, and what a wonderful concert of Italian and French art songs, many on the theme of love, on the eve of Valentine’s Day and, hopefully, the eve of an early Spring.

REVIEW:
Harriman-Jewell Series
Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo–Soprano, in Recital
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Folly Theater
300 W 12th St, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-415-5025 or visit http://hjseries.org

Top Photo: Joyce DiDonato by Marty Umans

By Topher Levin

Classical Editor and Contributor

Christopher (Topher) Levin is a composer, pianist, music theorist, and music blogger based in Kansas City, MO. His compositions have been performed at music festivals across the US and in Europe. He has spent two summers in Paris, France studying music at the Ecole Normale de Musique through the EAMA program. His trio for clarinet, piano, and percussion is published in the SCI Journal of Scores.

Topher holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M.) in music theory and (M.M.) in composition and from James Madison University in Virginia (B.M.) in composition. Primary composition teachers have included John S. Hilliard, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Claude Baker, Narcis Bonet, Michel Merlet, and João Pedro Oliveira. His piano teachers have included Patricia Brady and Karen Kushner. Topher maintains a piano studio of 22 students.

Having recently completed a Master's thesis on the beautiful complexities of Chinary Ung's trio, Spiral I, Topher turned his writing attention to the more informal blogging medium. He has taken to it quite well, sharing posts on strange and wonderful music and art found across the web with a modest but growing number of blog followers. He looks forward to writing for KCM and sharing with its readers the stories of all the amazing musicians performing in Kansas City.