“Bow down before Rome’s mother from hell: Joyce DiDonato is mistress of all she surveys as his scheming empress, with an expressive palette and tonal beauty to match the finest Handelians.

DiDonato’s rendition of the soliloquising aria Pensieri, voi mi tormentate, singularly affecting and so piercingly phrased, must be a career highlight.”

The Times

“Over the course of the opera’s three hours plus, DiDonato has the opportunity to show everything she can do. She uses her ease at the top of her voice to spin beautiful lines and sharpens Agrippina’s claws with her fearsome ornamentation, including a few places where she dashes down to a low, baritonal register full of menace.”

Financial Times