About this item

"The aria from Maria Stuarda which DiDonato sings so triumphantly is but one highlight on this sumptuous disc from one of todays most impressive singers." --November 2014 Gramophone Editors Choice

"Here Didonato is in top form, tossing off staccatos, trills, arpeggios, repeated notes and chromatics with astonishing accuracy and energy." --Opera News, November 2014

A rarely heard student piece by Bellini makes an opulent platform for todays most exciting opera singer. "Dopo loscuro nembo" --Tom Huizenga, NPR Songs of 2014

"Operatically speaking, 2014 might as well be subtitled "The Year of Joyce DiDonato." There she was singing the National Anthem at the final game of the World Series, in front of her beloved Royals; inaugurating the first video broadcast from Carnegie Hall from Medici TV; and headlining the Perspective series, also at Carnegie. But the feather in DiDonatos 2014 cap just might be this remarkable album of 19th-century arias from Naples. Its a feast of bel canto thrills, from the finale of Rossinis opera Zelmira to shapely traversals of two gorgeous Bellini arias, along with a sampler platter of names nearly forgotten: Pacini, Carafa, Mercadante and Valenti." --Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR Best Classical Albums of 2014