Joyce DiDonato sings Heggie – With the Brentano String Quartet

Joyce DiDonato and the Brentano String Quartet come to The Greene Space at WQXR in New York City for an exclusive performance of selections by Lekeu and Heggie from Into the Fire, their recently-released live Wigmore Hall recording.

The Wigmore Hall performance was conceived around contemporary composer Jake Heggie’s song cycle Camille Claudel: Into the Fire. Written especially for DiDonato,who has described it as “one of the most moving projects I’ve ever been part of”, the cycle explores the life and work of Camille Claudel, the collaborator, mistress, and muse of the 19th-century sculptor Auguste Rodin. In this concert, they pair Heggie’s work with Romantic French composer Guillaume Lekeu’s Molto adagio sempre cantante doloroso String Quartet. Composed when he was only 17 years old (he died of typhoid fever at just 24), the work is inspired by Christ’s words in the Garden of Gethsemane, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matthew 26:38).

Joyce DiDonato appears courtesy of Warner Classics.