Opera Review
Innocence at the Metropolitan Opera
Seen and Heard International“As the Waitress, Joyce DiDonato brought a concentrated intensity and finely controlled expressive range, her mezzo-soprano at once grounded and flexible, capable of narrowing to an almost speech-like intimacy or opening into fuller, more resonant lines without breaking the role’s inward tension. Her diction remained sharply etched throughout, allowing the text to project with directness. She rendered the role with restraint, allowing grief and recognition to both mirror and counterbalance the score’s elusive, open-ended atmosphere.”
“The Waitress’s agony is ever-present—in mezzo Joyce DiDonato’s blistering performance it manifests as rage, searing the others as she confronts them one by one.”