Almost exactly two years ago, famed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato appeared at The Granada Theatre in one of her various unorthodox projects, EDEN. We knew we were in for something different this way came, as we were handed seed-embedded paper discs, tied to the project’s theme of regeneration and gardens, actual and symbolic. Her musical menu, lighting, and staging touched on the music she is known for on the opera stage, by Handel and Gluck, but wended through Charles Ives and Mahler, and the sounds from living composers such as Rachel Portman. It was anything but a garden variety recital.
On Thursday, February 5, she returns to the Granada in another tradition-challenging role, with a production of Emily – No Prisoner Be by composer Kevin Puts — whose Virginia Woolf–based opera The Hours featured DiDonato. In this program, hosted by UCSB Arts & Lectures, she will be joined by the innovative Time for Three and also featuring stage direction and interactive links to the audience.
From all appearances and reports, the show will present Emily Dickinson in a new and reconsidered light, for a contemporary sensibility. The fruits of the effort, at least in musical form, are also available for all to hear on a newly released album.