Joyce DiDonato is at the pinnacle of a glorious career that has won her global fame, bringing a thrilling sense of drama and an all-absorbing commitment both on the operatic stage and on the concert platform. She also devises original, innovative projects that combine many artistic disciplines, highlighting topics crucial to contemporary life. Through dedicated, relentless hard work. she has achieved total technical control over her astonishing mezzo voice.
I will never forget the first time I saw DiDonato perform: at the Barbican in March 2006, as Dejanira in Handel’s Hercules with Les Arts Florissants under William Christie. The role is fiendish — mindbogglingly difficult, featuring arias both with bravura coloratura and with long, arching legato lines. Her note-perfect, electrifying performance took the audience’s breath away. It remains one of the most special defining moments in my long opera-going life.
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