"Women of the Year"

The Metropolitan Opera / The Voice Must Be Heard

JOYCE DiDONATO: “Cendrillon is the French girl who we here in America know as Cinderella. She’s a character familiar to so many of us because we grew up with her. We grew up knowing her loneliness, that she has been rejected by family, she has lost her mother and feels a deep sense of sadness about that. But she is also a girl who holds onto hope and who holds onto the idea that goodness and love really conquer. And in the story, she finds her prince—but what I like about this version is she’s not dependent on the prince. It’s not that she needs him to make her life complete, but she wants to love him, and it’s a beautiful, pure way of looking at the expression of love … She is a character I have sung for almost 19 years, and I hate to say it because it sounds like a cliché, but it’s impossible for me to sit here, knowing that I’m preparing this role for the Metropolitan Opera, and not feel like Cinderella. I came from Prairie Village, Kansas, and I thought I was destined to be a high school music teacher. I thought I would be living a life in the suburbs, very normal. Yet, when I went to college—and it sounds strange to say—but it felt like the stage really called me. I got bitten by the bug and it felt like home. It took me a little while to reconcile what felt like a very narcissistic lifestyle. But in the end, what I found is that, actually, I am in a position of service. Especially now, when we need music and the arts to open ourselves and open our channels to compassion and empathy more than ever. So, when I sing, it’s not about the spotlights—I mean, all that’s lovely—but it really is the privilege of being able to give people a hugely emotional and connective experience.”