Interview: Joyce DiDonato

Time Out Singapore
by Steven Ang
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Most performers would dash off the stage after falling and breaking an ankle. Not opera star Joyce DiDonato – Steven Ang finds out more

“Think Madonna’s onstage fall at this year’s Brit Awards was shocking? Try literally breaking a leg mid-performance and continuing the run of shows in a wheelchair. American opera singer Joyce DiDonato, one of the biggest names in the international operatic circuit, made headlines for doing just that.

During a run of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at London’s Royal Opera House in 2009, the mezzo-soprano slipped at the end of the first act but insisted on continuing the performance with a crutch. ‘It was a challenge, to be sure, but also a wonderful experience,’ DiDonato recalls. ‘The role of Rosina is a character that I know inside-out, and I think that helped me improvise the performances in the wheelchair.’ Hopefully, when the diva takes the Esplanade Concert Hall stage in May, there won’t be any accidents.”

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