Post-Operatic Garden of Idealistic Delights

Post-Operatic Garden of Idealistic Delights

Acclaimed Mezzo-Soprano Joyce DiDonato Returns to Santa Barbara with her Ambitious, Multimedia, Multi-Period Concept Work EDEN

By Josef Woodard | January 19, 2023

In the life and career trajectory of an operatic singer — even those with a reputation for adventurous repertoire — parameters of the profession are, by definition, fairly narrow. There will be operas. There will be recitals. There may be crossover projects and other specialty items in the margins. End of story, more or less.

Such an entrenched profile has largely governed the stellar career of American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, in the midst of a life in the upper echelon of operatic/recital worlds. But something new and uniquely ambitious has come into being within the past year, in the form of her conceptual project known as EDEN, being brought to The Granada Theatre on Tuesday, January 24, by the co-commissioning body, UCSB Arts and Lectures.

It was in the Granada, in fact, that DiDonato made her Santa Barbara debut back in 2018, with a stirringly fine recital. The program demonstrated her innate versatility, ranging from Handel to Rossini and Ravel, with a touching “Over the Rainbow” in honor of her Kansas roots. That versatility both expands and gains a fresh conceptual cohesion with EDEN, whose musical tapestry courses across centuries, from Gluck and Handel to Mahler, Charles Ives, and a newly commissioned, musical-theater-like song by film composer Rachel Portman. Stirred into the concept are elements of theater, movement, lighting, and the early music ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro.