“The world needs you. Now, the world may not exactly realize it, but wow, does it need you. It is yearning, starving, dying for you and your healing offer of service through your Art. We need you to help us understand that which is bigger than ourselves, so that we can stop feeling so small, so isolated, so helpless that, in our fear, we stop contributing that which is unique to us: that distinct, rare, individual quality which the world is desperately crying out for and eagerly awaiting. We need you to remind us what unbridled, unfiltered, childlike exuberance feels like, so we remember, without apology or disclaimer, to laugh, to play, to FLY and to stop taking EVERYTHING so damn seriously.”
Read the entire speech here.
Aug 17, 2017 | News | No Comments
The opera singer has been working with El Sistema Greece on workshops with refugee children from countries including Afghanistan and Syria: ‘El Sistema is building a cultural revolution here, through music education.’
Joyce DiDonato is one of the world’s greatest opera singers and she’s been lending her star power to a music education project working with refugee children in Greece.
Aug 16, 2017 | Features | News | Press | No Comments
The shortlist for the 40th Gramophone Awards includes mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, pianists Murray Perahia and Daniil Trifonov, Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium and Glyndebourne Opera. This year the Gramophone Awards is marking its 40th anniversary, and today the shortlist for the 2017 awards has been unveiled.
The nominees include mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato for her album In War and Peace, pianist Murray Perahia for his recording of J.S. Bach’s French Suites and the LSO – Classic FM’s Orchestra in the City of London – for a recording of works by Thomas Adès, conducted by the composer himself.
Aug 1, 2017 | Concert Reviews | News | Opera Reviews | Press | No Comments
“Joyce DiDonato arrived as Didon in Act III looking every inch the queen of Carthage, acknowledging her people with straight backed authority without losing a delicate feminine sadness over her solitude. Her blossoming relationship with the Énée of tenor Michael Spyres brought a duet of overwhelming sensuality … Just when “reserved” and “elegant” seemed apt words to describe DiDonato, the mezzo seized on the drama of the final act to unfurl a torrent of lustrous tone and unbridled commitment to set her performance of the Carthaginian queen beside the great interpreters of the role.”
Stephen J. Mudge – Opera News
Jul 27, 2017 | News | 1 Comment
Joyce DiDonato has been honored as the 2017 ECHO Klassik Female Artist of the Year, her fourth time receiving the award. She was previously named Female Singer of the Year in 2010, 2013, and 2015. The designation recognizes Ms. DiDonato’s tremendous stage and recording career; highlights from this past year include the release of her album “In War & Peace – Harmony Through Music” and its subsequent international tour, and her critically acclaimed debut in the title role of Semiramide at the Bayerische Staatsoper.
The award ceremony and Gala Concert will be hosted on October 29 at the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall in Hamburg, and will receive a TV broadcast via ZDF that evening.
Jun 23, 2017 | News | No Comments
Joyce DiDonato is nominated for a 2017 Bachtrack Opera Award in the “Best Female Singer” category, recognizing her “brilliant” role debut as Semiramide at the Bayerische Staatsoper. Winners for all categories will be selected by online ballot – place your vote at the link!
Jun 23, 2017 | Features | News | Press | No Comments
La mezzo-soprano américaine Joyce DiDonato, marraine du projet El Sistema Greece, a donné gratuitement un concert pour les enfants réfugiés des camps d’Athènes. Dernier volet de ce carnet de bord.
Jun 22, 2017 | News | No Comments
The archived broadcast of Joyce DiDonato’s performance with the Berlin Philharmonic can now be enjoyed via the ensemble’s Digital Concert Hall. Ms. DiDonato sang Berlioz’ La Mort de Cléopâtre on a programme that also featured Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye Suite for Orchestra and Stravinsky’s L’Oiseau de feu (The Firebird), all conducted by Ludovic Morlot. Watch the broadcast here: Digital Concert Hall – Joyce DiDonato in Concert
Jun 12, 2017 | Concert Reviews | News | Press | No Comments
GoldenPlec
by Michael Lee
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That this is no ordinary concert is clear before even entering the auditorium. On the programme stands there are cards for everyone in the audience, inviting answers to the question ‘in the midst of chaos, how do you find peace?’
Joyce DiDonato, touring with period-instrument ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro, has themed this concert ‘In War and Peace: Harmony Through Music’. Once inside, the lighting is low, there is a smudge of dry ice in the air, and there is the singer herself, seated statue-like at the rear of the stage while at the front a male figure lies on the ground, his body twisted like a torso from a baroque painting.
Jun 12, 2017 | Concert Reviews | News | Press | No Comments
Music can express different emotional states, as well as be a kind of commentary on a nowadays world’s events.. It has a special power, that almost every musician tries to catch and deliver to the audience. And there is one person, who actually takes up the effort to make it more real and to achieve peace through music. And, she makes you believe, that it is possible.
And it was just like this, on 30th May in Berliner Philharmonie with Joyce DiDonato and Il Pomo d’Oro. There was a concert from the tour: “War and peace, harmony through music”. But word “concert” is just insufficient. It was more than a concert, or just a “performance”. Joyce took us on a journey with mythological heroines, baroque truth and reality …
Ove t’aggiri (Pacini)
O di sorte crudel (Caraffa)
Par che mi dica ancora (Donizetti)
There will always be more freedom to acquire and more truth to uncover.
~ Joyce DiDonato
