Opera superstar, multi-Grammy and Olivier Award-winning American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato makes her New Zealand debut this week with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
DiDonato will offer rare insights into her craft through exclusive masterclasses in Wellington and Auckland. The masterclasses will feature emerging New Zealand opera talent and provide audiences with a behind-the-scenes look at the discipline and passion that define DiDonato’s career.
Watch the live video stream of the Wellington TANZOS Masterclass live from the Michael Fowler Centre here: Thursday, 27 Nov | 6pm-8pm
Watch the live video of the Wellington concert here: Friday, 28 Nov | 6.30pm
Programme:
BERLIOZ Les Nuits d'été
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7
Performed by NZSO with Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, Conducted by Gemma New.
Joyce DiDonato Summer Nights features two music masterpieces: French composer Hector Berlioz’s exquisite song cycle Les Nuits d'été and Austrian composer Anton Bruckner’s monumental Seventh Symphony.
The concerts promise to showcase DiDonato’s “24-carat gold” voice (The Times) and her unmatched artistry, praised by the New Yorker as “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation.” Her performance of Berlioz’s The Death of Cleopatra with the London Philharmonic last year was praised by The Guardian “as a tour de force.”
“I expect my audience to be transformed by the end of the evening,” DiDonato has said about performing.
“I want them to have the experience of a lifetime and feel something deep and true that normal, everyday modern life doesn’t usually afford them. I want them to be utterly uplifted.”
In addition to her New Zealand debut performances, DiDonato will offer rare insights into her craft through exclusive masterclasses in Wellington and Auckland. The masterclasses will feature emerging New Zealand opera talent and provide audiences with a behind-the-scenes look at the discipline and passion that define DiDonato’s career.
Singer Joyce DiDonato. Photo: Chris Gonz
NZSO Chief Executive Marc Feldman says:
“Her generosity—on stage and in the studio—is legendary. Her work with young singers in her renowned Carnegie Hall programme has inspired countless artists around the world. For the NZSO this is truly an honour, it's more than a teaching moment; it’s a chance to connect, collaborate, and help shape the next generation of operatic talent here in Aotearoa.”
DiDonato’s Wellington concert with the NZSO and her Wellington masterclass, with sound by RNZ Concert, will be livestreamed at nzso.co.nz/plus and rnz.co.nz/concert courtesy of Erato/Warner Classics. Usually, DiDonato’s livestreamed masterclasses are exclusive to Carnegie Hall, but the acclaimed singer has given permission for her Wellington masterclass to be livestreamed.
