Emily – No Prisoner Be - On Tour
New York Times“DiDonato’s Emily was a fiercely intelligent, physically brazen woman. Her voice roared and bloomed with conviction across the work’s two-and-a-half-octave range, from throaty lows to shuddering highs, from a meaty bellow to a thread of gossamer.”
“DiDonato sang as she always does, with peerless technique, a captivatingly mobile voice, burnished amber tone and seemingly depthless resources of emotional nuance, fervor, fearless line readings, rapture, and interpretive acuity. Every syllable got full attention from her and the audience.
DiDonato operated as a medium through which the great 19th century American poet’s passions and preoccupations manifested — the word became flesh… DiDonato excavated the ardor and paradoxes, the self-reflection and vivid flights of language in Dickinson’s elliptical, sometimes gnomic and singular poetry… As she did here with the enthralling 2023 “Eden,” a work about the natural world and the threat of climate change, DiDonato made her belief in art’s power to engage and connect explicit.”
“DiDonato sang as she always does, with peerless technique, a captivatingly mobile voice, burnished amber tone and seemingly depthless resources of emotional nuance, fervor, fearless line readings, rapture, and interpretive acuity. Every syllable got full attention from her and the audience.
But shining musicianship was only part of what made “Emily — No Prisoner Be” such a dramatically embodied evening. Wandering an elevated stage hung with swag-style drapes that suggested shawls, shrouds, or even the sprawling fleece of a poetic imagination, DiDonato was a restless presence. Adorned in a virginal white dress, but with no attempt to mimic the reclusive poet’s appearance or presumed modest demeanor, she clambered on and off a desk, set some hanging lights swinging, and sidled up to the three musicians from time to time.”
“Joyce DiDonato’s newest modernized recital fuses music with theater, breathing life and depth into an enchanting and soulful new song cycle by Kevin Puts based on poems by Emily Dickinson. Emily – No Prisoner Be builds its heart-tugging magic out of the mezzo-soprano’s arresting and oh-so-human stage presence as well as her plangent voice.
One of the loveliest songs came after the first bee scherzo. ‘A little Snow’, and the one that followed, ‘“Hope” is the thing’, painted detailed images and surged with emotional weight. Another beauty came after the second scherzo: ‘Her face’. It began with velvety vocal harmonies against a walking rhythm, the men in falsetto echoing in counterpoint with the mezzo-soprano’s liquid lines.”
“Just about everything mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato touches turns to gold… The piece opened with tense and furious fiddling by the string players, followed by DiDonato’s glorious singing… She employed a broad palette of tone colors, from bright and light to dark and rich. Her diction was impeccable. But it was her acting and embodiment of the spirit of Emily Dickinson that was gripping throughout the evening. She captured the many moods and facets of the poet’s life and thoughts—her rebellious spirit, her unique and visionary voice, her love of nature, the importance of compassion and kindness, her musings on mortality… the list goes on.”
“From the opening moments, Puts places the audience inside Dickinson’s inner world. DiDonato, often with her back turned, scribbled furiously, crumpled pages in frustration, and started again. The gesture is simple but powerful: we are not watching a poet frozen in time, but one actively wrestling with language, thought, and self-identity.
The result is a portrait of inwardness without confinement—of solitude as agency rather than isolation…
What ultimately sets “No Prisoner Be” apart is not just its musical innovation but also its emotional resonance. Beneath the technical skill of Puts, DiDonato, and Time for Three, there is a clear purpose: to create space for reflection, release, and connection.”