Pop Culture Classics

When you combine a glorious voice like Joyce DiDonato’s with an epic program, the results can be spectacular. That’s the case with “In War and Peace: Harmony Through Music,” the title of the opera sensation’s dramatic new album.

Of the compositions’ connective themes, DiDonato tells Pop Culture Classics,, “I think the key lies in the second part of the title: ‘Harmony Through Music.’ My hope is that as this album reflects the two worlds of war and peace that we seem to constantly waver between as a society. This particular musical journey will remind people they have a choice in which side they participate in.”

Selecting the pieces was an organic process. “In many ways, I feel the pieces found me. I have long wanted to record the towering pieces of ‘Dido’s Lament’ [from the opera “Dido and Aeneas” by Henry Purcell] and “Lascia ch’io pianga,” [from Handel’s “Rinaldo”], which helped me to settle on this particular theme. Once that was determined, the other pieces quite nearly just appeared – and the album was set!”

Read the entire feature via PopCultureClassics.com