Joyce DiDonato & il pomo d’oro – In War & Peace: Harmony Through Music
November 2016 saw our first touring production with Joyce DiDonato and her long-time musical partners il pomo d’oro and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev.
With ‘In War & Peace: Harmony Through Music’, Joyce invited every audience member to answer the question “In the midst of chaos, how do you find peace?” and said:
“For centuries, creators of great art have been depicting atrocity and pandemonium alongside tranquility and harmony for centuries, boldly showing us both our brutal nature and our elevated humanity. Art unifies, transcends borders, connects the disconnected, eliminates status, soothes turmoil, threatens power and the status-quo, and gloriously exalts the spirit. Art is a valiant path to peace.
With the help of Handel and Purcell, among other masters, I respectfully invite you look at the interwoven worlds of external conflict and serenity, internal war and peace, and to contemplate where you wish to reside within yourself.”
Directed by Ralf Pleger with costume design by Dame Vivienne Westwood, ‘In War & Peace’ was a semi-theatricalised experience which pushed the boundaries of a standard concert through lighting by Henning Blum and video projections by Yousef Iskandar, along with choreography, movement and gesture by dancer Manuel Palazzo. The production was designed with Askonas Holt to be set up in every venue within one day.
The project was performed in 44 cities across Europe, North America, South America and Asia between 2016-19. Launching first at Bozar in Brussels, In War & Peace was performed in some of the world’s finest concert halls, including Philharmonie Berlin, Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center, Teatro Colón, Sala São Paulo, Houston Grand Opera, Carnegie Hall, Shanghai Symphony Hall, and Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.
In 2017, from Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu a performance was captured both for live stream and for a live performance DVD, produced by Camera Lucida and Askonas Holt, ARTE France, with the participation of MUSEEC/medici.tv and UNITEL, and has been viewed over 1,200,000 times.In 2019, a performance was live streamed from NCPA Beijing and viewed over by over 900,000 people.
The project finished with two performances in the iconic Kennedy Center in Washington in November 2019, alongside an inspirational panel discussion on the role of music in finding peace, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Donna Leon and Joyce DiDonato.
‘In War & Peace: Harmony Through Music’ reached 2,338,415 people worldwide through both the live concert experience and streaming.