Ariodante, Barbican Hall

Joyce DiDonato carries the day

by Igor ToronyilalicWednesday, 25 May 2011

Texan mezzo Joyce DiDonato: 'Face, body and voice had become an extraordinary emotional Rubik's Cube'

Handel spread dazzle and desolation evenly enough through the lead roles of Ariodante. A suitably stellar line-up for last night's concert performance at the Barbican was, therefore, awaiting us. Yet, as so often with Handel, the packed ship and its glistening booty inevitably tilted to one passenger and one casket of gems: to Joyce DiDonato and "Scherza infida".

One of the most carefully detailed, artistically assured and musically thrilling pieces of singing and acting I've seen and heard in a long while'

Buy

Find Ariodante on Amazon

Ariodante, The English Concert, Bicket, Barbican

Explore topics

Share this article

more Opera

Heart's Delight, Opera Holland Park review - a classy hour of operetta pops Five fine singers and a small orchestra deliver hits at a high level

Moses und Aron, Komische Oper Berlin, OperaVision review – complex and powerful memorial Schoenberg’s opera of unanswerable questions proves a fitting Holocaust epitaph

Elektra, Salzburg Festival, Arte review - distancing, but not in the physical sense Cold, analytical Strauss from Franz Welser-Möst and an odd array of performing styles

First Person: Antonia Bain on directing a short kitchen opera for film Scottish Opera's digital content producer on making 'The Narcissistic Fish'

Classical music/Opera direct to home 19 – and two before a live audience Finally, you can be in the room, or space, where it happens in two east London venues

The Opera Story: Episodes review - whimsical takes on lockdown life Young London company offers snapshots of contemporary living

Classical music/Opera direct to home 17 - festive inventions Celebrating a maverick conductor, two great artists in recital and home-grown ingenuity

Don Giovanni/Sibelius plus, Swedish RSO, Harding, livestream review - dark studio rituals Vivid Mozart style from top cast and conductor, but concepts work only fitfully

Live from Covent Garden 1, Royal Opera and Ballet online review - small-scale but perfectly formed Clever programming from mastermind Antonio Pappano showcases best of British plus

Classical music/Opera direct to home 15 - opening up at different rates The Royal Opera cautiously re-engages, while Sweden and Norway continue apace

Classical music/Opera direct to home 14 - sound and vision at the highest level Esoteric Berlin delights, two fine UK concerts, vivid Puccini and classical awards for all

La voix humaine, Grange Park Opera online review – hanging on the telephone Poulenc's technological tragedy proves eerily apt for lockdown lives

Follow @theartsdesk