American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato receives rave reviews wherever she performs, not only for her virtuosity but also for her engaging personality, positive attitude and easy flow of communication. With a voice “nothing less than 24 karat gold”, according to the Times (London, UK), the mezzo-soprano is not only one of the finest singers in the world of opera, but one of its most theatrical and imaginative. On Sunday, January 29, DiDonato will perform Eden with the Choeur des enfants de Montréal in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier Place des Arts.

Celebrating the majesty, power and mystery of nature through striking and evocative music and theatrical effects, this tour de force by multi-award-winning Joyce DiDonato will take the audience on an emotional journey which intends to reconnect the audience to the strength and fragility of nature, while pushing us to explore our place within the marvellous and kaleidoscopic world that surrounds us.

“DiDonato’s voice is truly one of nature’s great wonders: luminous, silken, flexible, full of colors and expressive shadings…” – National Public Radio

DiDonato employs youth choirs to her performances of Eden as she tours the world. This tour will include forty-five cities and five continents from 2022 through to 2014, and DiDonato is excited about working with children’s choirs. For her Montreal performance, she will be joined by the forty voices of the Choeur des enfants de Montréal. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to sing with a world-famous vocalist – but also to perform at Salle Wilfrid Pelletier.  

In addition to performing roles in Handel and Mozart operas and in bel canto masterpieces, she has also appeared in works by contemporary American composers such as Jake Heggie’s Great Scott and Dead Man Walking, Resurrection by Tod Machover and Little Women by Mark Adamo. Metropolitan Opera broadcast viewers have seen her in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Le Comte Ory, La Cenerentola and La donna del lago by Rossini as well as in the pastiche The Enchanted Island, Maria Stuarda by Donizetti, Norma by Bellini, Cendrillon by Massenet and Agrippina by Handel.

Besides numerous audio and video recordings, including Berlioz’s critically acclaimed, rarely performed and recorded opera, Les Troyens, she has also released thematic albums on the Erato/Warner label, like Furore: Mad Scenes from Handel Operas, Diva Divo, Drama Queens, Stella di Napoli et In War & Peace: Harmony through Music.

Her Eden album, recorded with Il Pomo d’Oro (featured in this concert) won the 2022 Opus Klassik Award for Solo Vocal Recording of the Year and is nominated for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album at the upcoming Grammy Awards. Its varied repertoire is centred on the theme of nature and the connection that humans have with it.

Il Pomo d’Oro

Il Pomo Doro Orchestra

The Il Pomo Doro Orchestra is touring with DiDonato after recording the album Eden

Founded in 2012, the Il Pomo d’Oro ensemble gets its name from a large-scale opera written in 1666 by Antonio Cesti. It performs baroque and classical music on period instruments. Since 2016, it has been conducted primarily by Maxim Emelyanychev, who is also the principal conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Concert artist Zefira Valova leads the orchestra in various projects.

Il Pomo d’Oro is the official ambassador of El Sistema Greece, a humanitarian project focused on providing free musical education to migrant children in the refugee camps in Greece. ilpomodoro.org

First violinist Zefira Valova specialized in baroque violin at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Lucy van Dael.  She was one of the founders and First Violin of the Sofia Baroque Art Festival, and she has held the same position in the Il Pomo d’Oro ensemble since 2015.

Argentinian Choreographer Manuel Palazzo started studying ballet at a very young age at Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires). He works with the Metropolitan Opera frequently, and dances at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) and the Teatro Real (Madrid). Among the directors he has worked with are Sir David McVicar, Harold Prince, Laurent Pelly and Robert Lepage.

Tickets are available Place des Arts, 175 Ste-Catherine Street West or online at www.placedesarts.com or by phone: 514 842-2112