Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Chicago Lyric Opera

Lyric debutante Joyce DiDonato immediately announced her prodigious vocal quality with a killer trill in Rosina’s brief interjections to ‘Se il mio nome.’ ‘Una voce poco fà’ was fine, but it was in ‘Contro il cor’ that the American mezzo really strutted her Rossinian pedigree, delivering the aria’s complicated runs with precision and humorous élan. –  Opera News, May, 2008

DiDonato…with her spunky, funny, lustrous-voicedRosina…sailed through the elaborate twists and turns of the heroine’s touchstone aria, ‘Una voce poco fa,’ with the agility, accuracy, rhythmic point and mile-wide charm that have made her a superstar in the Rossini repertory. She never lets you forget what a smart cookie Rosina is beneath her ingenue facade.

–  Chicago Tribune, February 18, 2008

The real musical news comes from the singer portraying Rosina in a belated Lyric debut, American mezzo Joyce DiDonato. All reports are absolutely true: Here is an open, honest, captivating singing actress who somehow combines youthful freshness with mature knowledge and control. After the seductive purity of her singing, you will want tickets to New York, London and Paris to see the Kansas product again soon.

–  Chicago Sun-Times, February 18, 2008