In Saturday’s (7/14) Kansas City Star, Steve Paul writes, “A breathless sense of pride runs like a sparkly current through the new PBS documentary, airing Friday, that celebrates superstar mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato’s appearance this year with her hometown orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony. And why not? She’s a dazzling presence in superb voice with a progression of gold, crimson and silver gowns. She’s singing for the first time in the warm embrace of our new Helzberg Hall. And the Symphony, navigating a range of European and American music, is riding high in its transformational first season at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Called ‘Homecoming: The Kansas City Symphony Presents Joyce DiDonato,’ the show is part of a PBS Arts Summer Festival. … It’s not a complete recording of the Symphony’s March concert featuring DiDonato and the music of Rossini, Verdi, Richard Strauss and Jake Heggie. The show, including interviews and backstage shots, clocks in at 54 mintues; the complete concert, available beginning July 17 as an audio download from iTunes (nice move), runs an hour and 13 minutes. … There are rehearsal shots, some fine musical excerpts deftly intertwined with upbeat commentary by DiDonato, [Music Director Michael] Stern and Frank Byrne, the Symphony’s executive director.”
Posted July 16, 2012
