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'

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