About
"The staggering, joyful artistry of Joyce DiDonato reminds us that in any generation there are a few giants. Joyce is not only a great, brave and inspiring artist – one of the finest singers of our time – but she is also a transformative presence in the arts. Those who know her repertoire are in awe of her gifts, and those who know nothing of it are instantly engaged. Joyce sings and the world is suddenly brighter. She compels us to listen actively, to hear things anew." – Jake Heggie, Gramophone
Multi-Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation” by The New Yorker. With a voice “nothing less than 24-carat gold” according to The Times, Joyce has towered at the top of the industry both as a performer, a producer, and a fierce advocate for the arts. With a repertoire spanning over four centuries, a varied and highly acclaimed discography, and industry-leading projects, her artistry has defined what it is to be a singer in the 21st century.
Joyce’s distinctively varied 2024-25 season includes a return to Teatro Real Madrid for Handel’s Theodora, a European recital tour with Craig Terry featuring performances at Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Athens Megaron, and Palau de la Musica de Valencia. In concert, Joyce continues her celebrated musical partnership with Yannick Nezet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and makes her debut with The Norwegian National Opera Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra. In December 2024, Joyce joins forces with Dallas-based acapella group ‘Kings Return’ for a festive tour around the USA. An intensive residency with the Dortmund Konzerthaus in the spring features the world premiere of a new song cycle by Rachel Portman, as well as her concert debut in Handel’s Jephtha. To end the season, Joyce premieres a highly anticipated new work by Kevin Puts for the Bregenz Festival. Written for Joyce and the Grammy Award-winning string trio, ‘TimeForThree’, it features the poetry of Emily Dickinson.
In September 2024, Joyce was honoured to have been awarded the 14th ever Concertgebouw Prize for her exceptional contribution to the artistic profile of the Concertgebouw.
Recent highlights include opening The Metropolitan Opera’s 2023 season performing her signature role of Sister Helen in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, returning later in the season to revive her wildly acclaimed “Virginia Woolf” in Kevin Puts’ The Hours. The 23-24 season also saw Joyce touring and recording Dido & Aeneas with Il Pomo d’Oro and the Grammy Award-winning SONGPLAY. Concerts with her own Kansas City Symphony, in Istanbul, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and at Carnegie Hall she continued her annual, in-demand Master Class Series. She concluded her season by wrapping up her ground-breaking 3-year project, EDEN, touring it to Asia, South America, and Europe. Seen by over 15 million people, EDEN traveled to 50 cities, won numerous awards, and included over 3500 children in its ground-breaking educational activities. Streamed in Beijing, filmed in Ancient Olympia, it will also be broadcast on medici.tv and Mezzo this season.
On the operatic stage, Joyce’s recent roles include Agrippina at the Metropolitan Opera and in a new production at the Royal Opera House, Didon in Les Troyens at the Wiener Staatsoper; Sesto in Cendrillon and Adalgisa in Norma at the Metropolitan Opera; Agrippina in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro under Maxim Emelyanchev; Sister Helen in Dead Man Walking at the Teatro Real Madrid and London’s Barbican Centre; Semiramide at the Bavarian State Opera and Royal Opera House, and Charlotte in Werther at the Royal Opera House.
Much in demand on the concert and recital circuit, Joyce has held residencies at Carnegie Hall and at London’s Barbican Centre, toured extensively in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia and appeared as guest soloist at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms. Other concert highlights include the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and the Accademia Santa Cecilia Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra USA under Sir Antonio Pappano.
An exclusive recording artist with Warner Classics/Erato, Joyce’s expansive discography includes the highly celebrated Les Troyens (winning Gramophone’s coveted Recording of the Year) and Handel’s Agrippina (Gramophone’s Opera Recording of the Year). Joyce’s other albums include her singular EDEN that has toured to nearly 40 cities globally, the acclaimed Winterreise with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Grammy Award winning Songplay, In War & Peace, the 2017 Best Recital Gramophone Award, Stella di Napoli, Grammy-Award-winning Diva Divo and Drama Queens. Other honours include the Gramophone Artist and Recital of the Year awards, as well as an inaugural inductee into the Gramophone Hall of Fame.