“What are the duties of an artist toward society? As Russia invades Ukraine, as racism persists in the United States, this age-old question remains very much of the moment. And the list of issues … grows ever longer,” writes David Allen in Friday’s (4/22) New York Times. “The one taken up by the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in her latest project, an album and concert program called ‘Eden,’ is climate change. Employing … Wagner, Mahler and a new commission from Rachel Portman in counterpoint with Cavalli, Gluck and Handel—the program reflects on what this star singer sees as humanity’s disconnect from nature.… DiDonato’s aim remains … a prompt for her listeners ‘to build a paradise for today.’ Touring since early March … with the period-instrument ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro under the conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, the concerts are staged by Marie Lambert-Le Bihan. At performances, plant seeds are handed out to audience members, and, as part of an educational initiative, local children’s choirs … sing ‘Seeds of Hope,’ a song collated by the teacher Mike Roberts from lyrics and melodies written last year by 11- to 13-year-old students at a school near London.”
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