DiDONATO PROVED AN IDEAL INTERPRETER

“As he has done for singers throughout his career, Heggie has made the cycle a glowing showcase for the vocalist. The writing for quartet — filled with insinuating themes and deft harmonies — sets the stage, but never intrudes. And the vocal parts are brilliant: spare and pristine in several settings, luxuriantly ornamented in others. This is a work that sings, ardently, melodically, and dramatically. (Cont…) Read more …

“ARTLESS … VAPOROUS … LILTING”

“DiDonato delivered an artlessly optimistic “Villanelle”, a vaporous ‘Le spectre de la rose” and a lilting “L’île inconnue” before bobbing off in the breeze to a land of undying love. Not that she had far to bob: the very walls of the Barbican hall, not to mention its inhabitants, were poised to embrace this adored diva whose modesty is an eternal miracle in itself.” ~ Fiona Maddocks The Guardian February 2012 Read more …

A TRILL RIDE

“She’s the hostess every American woman wants to be,” my friend said admiringly as the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato charmed the audience at Carnegie Hall on Sunday afternoon with a stream of engaging commentary. Indeed, Ms. DiDonato seemed the perfect 21st-century diva — an effortless combination of glamour, charisma, intelligence, grace and remarkable talent.

~ Vivienne Schweitzer The New York Times March 2011

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Joyce DiDonato … with pianist David Zobel, chose an enchantingly quixotic programme of love songs in Italian, from Caccini to Pizzetti. Despite the flat, unhelpful lighting, this vivacious soprano, a natural stage animal, drew her audience in with her musical generosity, intelligence and esprit.

– Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, August, 2010

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Joyce DiDonato, stunning in a low-cut, belted, pale-blue sheath with a diamond bracelet and her blond locks worn up, was the true heroine of the evening. With its distinctive, earthy timbre, her voice has sufficient weight, rock-solid technique and elegant phrasing to make her a thrilling, perfect Adalgisa. Passionate and powerful, she is the rare intelligent artist who can take a repeated phrase such as “Deh! proteggimi, o Dio!” and make it mean something different each time.

- Larry Nash, Opera News, Novermber, 2012

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In the voice of Joyce DiDonato songs that most singers use as warm-up material or as encores become sudden, radiant masterpieces. The mezzo-soprano’s latest recital, Three Centuries of “Amore”, contained virtually no great music at all, just sentimental ditties written by Italians (and one notable German), either to test their own craft or to display the powers of lungs and larynx. Yet there were some extraordinary musical discoveries in an evening in which DiDonato’s sheer love of sharing what she was doing radiated warmth into the raw night air.

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Joyce DiDonato captivates the Liceu
The Liceu already has a new muse. Joyce DiDonato Sunday deployed all her art and ability to charm with the intense song recital Three centuries of love. The diva from Kansas, who had won the heatrs here two years ago in La Cenerentola, confirmed that this mezzo coloratura is living the best moment of her career. The public finally surrendered to the elegance of her phrasing and musicality of her voice.

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Bay Area music lovers have known about the brilliance of the American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato longer than most, thanks to her breakthrough Merola performance as Rossini’s Cenerentola and a triumphant Schwabacher Debut Recital back in the mid-’90s. Yet I doubt that even her biggest local fans – and yes, I am one – could have foreseen the vigor, the subtlety or the sheer vocal splendor that DiDonato brought to her Monday night recital in Herbst Theater.

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In the anguished aria “Do not utter a word, Anatol,” from Samuel Barber’s “Vanessa,” the soprano Lauren Flanigan, a vocal powerhouse, gave such a visceral performance that you stopped thinking about acoustics. Something similar happened when the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sang the tender song “Take Care of This House” from Bernstein’s musical “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

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