Carnegie Hall

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato returns to Carnegie Hall for a series of Perspectives concerts throughout the 2019-2020 season, highlighting her full range of vocal artistry as well as her work as an educator.

Ms. DiDonato’s Perspectives kicked off during the summer of 2019 when she joined Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) on tour across Europe with her longtime collaborator conductor Sir Antonio Pappano in performances of Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été. 

On Friday, November 15 at 8:00 p.m., she continues her series with one of her specialties: singing Berlioz’s La mort de Cléopâtre, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestraconducted by Riccardo Muti. The program, featuring music inspired by Rome, also includes Bizet’s rarely performed Roma and Respighi’s Pines of Rome. The concert is part of the Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series with a live radio broadcast on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York and online at wqxr.org and carnegiehall.org/wqxr. Produced by WQXR and Carnegie Hall and co-hosted by WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon and Clemency Burton-Hill, Carnegie Hall Live broadcasts include behind-the-scenes access to the artists and broadcast team, connecting national and international fans to the music and to each other. 

The following week, on Friday, November 22 at 8:00 p.m., she joins fellow Perspectives artist Yannick Nézet-Séguin with the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal singing arias from Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito on a program that also includes Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, “Romantic” in the orchestra’s Carnegie Hall debut. She collaborates again with Mr. Nézet-Séguin on piano on Sunday, December 15 at 2:00 p.m. singing Schubert’s powerful song cycle Winterreise. The December 15 concert will be webcast live, free of charge, to a worldwide audience on medici.tv and carnegiehall.org/medici. The collaboration between Carnegie Hall and medici.tv—making live webcasts of select Carnegie Hall concerts available to music lovers everywhere—began in fall 2014 and has since showcased performances by some of the world’s most celebrated artists. These webcasts have been enthusiastically received, reaching over 8 million views over the past five seasons with audience members originating from more than 180 countries and territories around the world.

Ms. DiDonato joins New Yorkers of all ages onstage in Zankel Hall on Sunday, April 5 at 7:00 p.m. for All Together: Songs for Joy. This special concert features music written as part of Carnegie Hall’s worldwide exploration of the “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and its season-long celebration honoring the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The young musicians will share their own perspectives on joy, a universal emotion that binds communities together. 

Also that week, April 6–8 at 4:00 p.m., Ms. DiDonato returns to lead her annual series of public master classes for young opera singers, webcast via medici.tv, presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) in the Weill Music Room. 

The following week, Ms. DiDonato returns to Zankel Hall joined by some of her dearest musical friends: flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, clarinetist Anthony McGill, harpist Emmanuel Ceysson, pianist Bryan Wagorn, and the Brentano String Quartet for A French Soirée, presenting works by Ravel, Debussy, and the premiere of a new arrangement of Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis by Jake Heggie commissioned by Carnegie Hall on Monday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Her Perspectives culminates on Tuesday, May 26, at 8:00 p.m. with a recital in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage titled Joyce DiDonato: My Favorite Things with conductor Maxim Emelyanychev leading Il Pomo d’Oro, the dynamic Italian ensemble that specializes in Baroque performance practice, in selections by Monteverdi, Gluck, Handel, and Purcell. 

Ms. DiDonato is one of a handful of artists who have been invited to curate a second Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall. Her first Perspectives was presented throughout the Hall’s 2014–2015 season. Now in its 21st season, Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives series is an artistic initiative in which select musicians are invited to explore their own musical individuality and create their own personal concert series through collaborations with other musicians and ensembles. In the 2019–2020 season, Perspectives series will be curated by four acclaimed artists: conductors Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo. 

Previous Perspectives artists have included Senegalese vocalist Youssou NDOUR; Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso; Indian classical tabla player Zakir Hussain; experimental rocker David Byrne; singer-songwriters Rosanne Cash and James Taylor; as well as conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim; conductors Pierre Boulez, James Levine, Sir Simon Rattle, David Robertson, and Michael Tilson Thomas; violinists Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Christian Tetzlaff; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Evgeny Kissin, Maurizio Pollini, Sir András Schiff, Peter Serkin, Daniil Trifonov, Mitsuko Uchida, and Yuja Wang; sopranos Renée Fleming and Dawn Upshaw; mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff; the Emerson String Quartet; the Kronos Quartet; and early music ensemble L’Arpeggiata. 

For more information on her 2019–2020 Perspectives, please visit: carnegiehall.org/didonato. 

About the Artist
Multi Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation” by The New Yorker. With a voice “nothing less than 24-carat gold” according to the Times (London), Joyce has soared to the top of the industry both as a performer and a fierce advocate for the arts, gaining international prominence in operas by Handel and Mozart, as well as through her wide-ranging, acclaimed discography. She is also widely acclaimed for the bel canto roles of Rossini and Donizetti. 

Much in demand on the concert and recital circuit she has recently held residencies at Carnegie Hall and at London’s Barbican Centre, toured extensively in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia and appeared as guest soloist at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms. Recent concert highlights include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti, the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, The Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) under Sir Antonio Pappano. 

In opera, Ms. DiDonato’s recent roles include Didon in Les Troyens at the Vienna State Opera; Sesto in Cendrillon and Adalgisa in Norma at the Metropolitan Opera, Agrippina in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro under Maxim Emelyanchev; Sister Helen in Dead Man Walking at the Teatro Real Madrid and London’s Barbican Centre; Semiramide at the Bavarian State Opera and Royal Opera House, and Charlotte in Werther at the Royal Opera. 

Joyce’s 2019–2020 season sees her staged debut as Agrippina in a new production at the Royal Opera House, returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Agrippina and Charlotte in Werther, and performances as Semiramide at the Liceu Barcelona. The season also holds the final tour with Il Pomo d’Oro of her album In War & Peace to South America culminating in Washington DC, as well as a European and US tour of My Favorite Things. Other highlights include a tour with the Orchestre Métropolitain under Nézet-Séguin; touring her latest album release Songplay in Europe and recorded concerts of Berlioz’s Roméo & Juliette with John Nelson and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg. 

An exclusive recording artist with Erato/Warner Classics, Ms. DiDonato’s award-winning discography includes Les Troyens, which in 2018 won the Recording (Complete Opera) category at the International Opera Awards, the Opera Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards; and Gramophone’s Recording of the Year. An extensive recording artist, other recent albums include Songplay, In War & Peace which won the 2017 Best Recital Gramophone Award, Stella di Napoli, her Grammy-Award-winning Diva Divo and Drama Queens. Other honors include the Gramophone Artist of the Year and Recital of the Year awards, and an induction into the Gramophone Hall of Fame. 

Program Information
Friday, November 15, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Riccardo Muti, Music Director and Conductor
Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-Soprano

GEORGES BIZET Roma
HECTOR BERLIOZ La mort de Cléopâtre
OTTORINO RESPIGHI Pines of Rome

Perspectives: Joyce DiDonato

Tickets: $45–$150 


Friday, November 22, 2019 at 8:00 PM
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
ORCHESTRE MÉTROPOLITAIN DE MONTRÉAL
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor
Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-Soprano

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Overture to La clemenza di Tito
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART "Parto, ma tu ben mio" from La clemenza di Tito
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART "Non più di fiori" from La clemenza di Tito
ANTON BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major, "Romantic" 

Perspectives: Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Tickets: $24–$80 


Sunday, December 15, 2019 at 2:00 PM
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
JOYCE DIDONATO, Mezzo-Soprano
YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN, Piano

FRANZ SCHUBERT Winterreise, D. 911

Perspectives: Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Tickets: $29–$96 


Sunday, April 5, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.
Zankel Hall
ALL TOGETHER: SONGS FOR JOY
Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-Soprano
James Ross, Music Director 

Ensemble Connect
·· Leo Sussman, Flute
·· Tamara Winston, Oboe
·· Noémi Sallai, Clarinet
·· Yen-Chen Wu, Bassoon
·· Wilden Dannenberg, French Horn
·· Brian Olson, Trumpet (Alum)
·· Oliver Barrett, Trombone (Alum)
·· Mika Sasaki, Piano (Alum)
·· Sae Hashimoto, Percussion
·· Brandon Ilaw, Percussion (Alum)
·· Jennifer Liu, Violin
·· Gergana Haralampieva, Violin
·· Meagan Turner, Viola
·· Arlen Hlusko, Cello
·· Ha Young Jung, Bass

Lead support for the Beethoven Celebration is provided by The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund. 

Lead funding for Ensemble Connect has been provided by Marina Kellen French and the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Max H. Gluck Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Irving Harris Foundation, Hearst Foundations, The Kovner Foundation, Phyllis and Charles Rosenthal, The Edmond de Rothschild Foundations, Beatrice Santo Domingo, and Hope and Robert F. Smith. 

Global Ambassadors: Hope and Robert F. Smith, and Maggie and Richard Tsai. 

Additional support has been provided by the Arnow Family Fund, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, E.H.A. Foundation, Barbara G. Fleischman, Leslie and Tom Maheras, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Susan and Elihu Rose Foundation, Sarah Billinghurst Solomon and Howard Solomon, and Trust for Mutual Understanding. 

Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Education and the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. 

Ensemble Connect is also supported, in part, by endowment grants from The Kovner Foundation.Tickets: $20, $30 


Monday, April 6, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
Weill Music Room
JOYCE DIDONATO MASTER CLASS

Lead support for workshops and master classes is provided by Beatrice Santo Domingo, and Mr. and Mrs. Anthony B. Evnin and the A.E. Charitable Foundation. 

Workshops and master classes are made possible, in part, by Mr. and Mrs. Nicola Bulgari. 

The Joan and Sanford I. Weill Music Room is located on the Lily and Edmond J. Safra Education Floor of the Judith and Burton Resnick Education Wing. 

Tickets: $20 


Monday, April 13, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
JOYCE DIDONATO AND FRIENDS
Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-Soprano
Tara Helen O'Connor, Flute
Anthony McGill, Clarinet
Emmanuel Ceysson, Harp
Bryan Wagorn, Piano
Brentano String Quartet
·· Mark Steinberg, Violin
·· Serena Canin, Violin
·· Misha Amory, Viola
·· Nina Lee, Cello 

A FRENCH SOIRÉE

Program to include works by Ravel, Debussy, and others

Sponsored by LOUIS XIII Cognac

This concert and the Pure Voice series are sponsored by the Jean & Jula Goldwurm Memorial Foundation in memory of Jula Goldwurm.

Tickets: $76, $86 


Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
JOYCE DIDONATO: MY FAVORITE THINGS
Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-Soprano
Il Pomo d’Oro
Maxim Emelyanychev, Conductor and Harpsichord 

Program to include works by Monteverdi, Gluck, Handel, and Purcell

Tickets: $32–$105


Perspectives: Joyce DiDonato 

Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.

In honor of the centenary of his birth, Carnegie Hall’s 2019–2020 season is dedicated to the memory of Isaac Stern in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to Carnegie Hall, arts advocacy, and the field of music. 

 

Photo of Joyce DiDonato by Simon Pauly

Ticket Information

Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org. In addition, a limited number of seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance or until supply lasts. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer. 

For all Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, a limited number of partial view (seats with obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.