It is with deep regret that Joyce DiDonato has announced that she will not be able to participate in the European performances of Ariodante with Harry Bicket and The English Concert due to a medical procedure. She is immensely sorry to disappoint her fans and admirers but is hugely grateful to the wonderful Alice Coote for stepping in for the European concerts, and to Harry Bicket and The English Concert for their support and understanding. Joyce is looking forward to singing the American tour dates.

We wish Joyce DiDonato a speedy recovery and are most grateful to the leading British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote for stepping in at such short notice. Alice Coote has been a close friend of The English Concert and Harry Bicket for many years. She has recorded three arias from Ariodante with the orchestra on her Handel Arias disc for Hyperion and has sung the roles of Ruggiero (Alcina) and Dejanira (Hercules) with the ensemble on tour in the 2014/15 season. They will also re-team with a production at Chicago’s Lyric Opera in 2019.

Other Blog Posts

Experiencing South Korea

Louise Hogan offers a wonderful insight into our recent tour to East Asia We are here with Sumi Jo, a star soprano the like of which we have never experienced.  One dress is

Handel vs the Opera of the Nobility

It’s easy to think of Handel as the all-conquering hero, arriving in London from his Italian adventures, and commanding the operatic scene for the rest of his life. While any passer-by on the streets

Wanted for murder

There are plenty of mysteries out there in the musical world: the two heads inside Haydn’s tomb, the enigma behind Elgar’s variations. But what of the gruesome murder of poor Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764)? From

Tainted love: the making of a monster

It’s the mother of all bad hair days for Scylla in Leclair’s only opera. Based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Scylla is just a nymph going about her business. Not especially interested in love, she rejects