“Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato’s latest album, In War and Peace: Harmony Through Music, is a collection of baroque arias from the 17th and 18th centuries divided into two sections—one addressing war, the other, peace,” writes Ari Shapiro on Friday (11/4) at NPR’s All Things Considered program. DiDonato says, “I was sitting at my piano going through a stack of arias, trying to find repertoire for [the album], and the Paris attacks had just happened. And I thought, I have to address what’s happening today, because these composers from years and centuries ago have already been talking about war and peace…. The question is: In the midst of chaos, how do you find peace? … Music can be a real guiding light towards empathy, and I can’t think of any better prescription. Let’s put it to the United States of America right now, a country divided. If we had more empathy, that’s a healing thing. And music, because it goes to the heart and bypasses the brain, can put people in a position to hear another point of view, to be less afraid of it.”
Posted November 8, 2016
