Event is Live
CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
The English Concert
Handel's Ariodante (opera in concert)
Sunday, April 30, 2017
2 PM
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is first among equals in a spectacular cast when she sings the title role of Ariodante in this season’s installment of Carnegie Hall’s critically acclaimed cycle of Handel’s operas in concert. A brilliantly melodic work, the opera features outstanding arias for each of the principal singers, including Ariodante’s melancholy “Scherza infida” and show-stopping “Doppo note.” Harry Bicket and The English Concert bring authentic Handelian brilliance to this marvelous opera.
Performers
The English Concert
Harry Bicket, Artistic Director and Conductor
Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-Soprano (Ariodante)
Christiane Karg, Soprano (Ginevra)
Mary Bevan, Soprano (Dalinda)
Sonia Prina, Contralto (Polinesso)
David Portillo, Tenor (Lurcanio)
Matthew Brook, Bass-Baritone (King of Scotland)
Tyson Miller, Tenor (Odoardo)
Program
HANDEL Ariodante (concert performance)
Event Duration
The program will last approximately four hours, including two 20-minute intermissions. Please note that there will be no late seating before the first intermission.Pre-Concert Talk
Pre-concert talk starts at 1:00 PM in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with Benjamin Sosland, Assistant Dean for the Kovner Fellowships, Administrative Director of Juilliard Historical Performance.
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At a Glance
With
Ariodante of 1735, Harry Bicket and
The English Concert complete the cycle of Handel’s three great last operas
being presented at Carnegie Hall. The second of the sequence, flanked by Orlando and Alcina, Ariodante was
Handel’s superb response to a situation that would have silenced a lesser
composer. At this time, he was facing the sternest challenge of his operatic
career: the arrival in London of Nicolo Porpora’s Opera of the Nobility, backed
by none other than the Prince of Wales. With the Prince’s financial support,
Porpora was able to steal away nearly all of Handel’s vocal stars as well as
the theater he used to present his operas. With his back to the wall, Handel
was rescued by a previous theatrical rival. And he also rescued himself with
his genius, creating one of his most gorgeous and inventive scores for a new
group of younger vocal talents, including the remarkable 30-year-old Italian
castrato Giovanni Carestini in the title role. Today, Ariodante has become a
trouser role for a virtuoso female mezzo-soprano and at this performance
showcases the phenomenal vocal and dramatic abilities of Joyce DiDonato.