There are singers who are secure in technique but cautious in expression, there are singers who deliver passion but damage the ears, and then there is Joyce DiDonato, who consistently finds the golden mean.”
~ Alex Ross New Yorker November 2012

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“DiDonato is in full fine form and throws her magnificent instrument into each of these pieces with a fury matched only by the inherent willfulness of the queens themselves […] simply exquisite”
~ Steven Ritter Audiophile November 2012

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“Glorious and magisterial.”
~ Barry Bassis Epoch Times November 2012

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“Brilliant”

“[…] what a wealth of feeling DiDonato lavishes upon the lament of the empress Octavia […] Numb with disbelief, engraved, despairing, resigned: DiDonato takes listeners on a harrowing journey, deploying her limpid, lit-from within voice like a knife inflicting so many stabs of pain.”
~ Marion Lignana Rosenberg WQXR: Operavore November 2012

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“That is why I do not hesitate – even though many good recordings have been released in 2012 – to declare “Drama Queens” my CD of the year. Five points with tiaras.”
~ Michael Blümke Ronda October 2012

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“Coloratura runs are lightning fast, angry declamations hurled like thunderbolts – and limpid laments meltingly cooed.”
~ Richard Morrison The Times November 2012

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“It is the most ambitious yet evenly sung album of the major mezzo-sopranos of the year. Joyce DiDonato: that’s Drama Queen Royalty.”
~ Kai Luehrs-Kaiser Kulturradio October 2012