Joyce DiDonato |

Joyce DiDonato

Joyce DiDonato (Di Donato) (née Joyce Flaherty) was born February 13, 1969 in Kansas in a family with Irish roots, was the sixth of seven children. Her father was the leader of the local church choir.

In 1988, she entered Wichita State University, where she studied vocals. After Joyce University, DiDonato decided to continue her musical education and in 1992 entered the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

After the academy, she participated for several years in the youth programs of various opera companies. In 1995 – at the Santa Fe Opera, where she performed in small roles in the operas Le nozze di Figaro by W. A. ​​Mozart, Salome by R. Strauss, Countess Maritza by I. Kalman; from 1996 to 1998 – at the Houston Opera, where she was recognized as the best “beginning artist”; in the summer of 1997 – at the San Francisco Opera in the Merola Opera training program.

Then Joyce DiDonato took part in a number of vocal competitions. In 1996, she placed second in the Eleanor McCollum competition in Houston and won the Metropolitan Opera competition district audition. In 1997, she won the William Sullivan Award. In 1998, DiDonato received second prize at the Placido Domingo Operalia competition in Hamburg and first prize at the George London competition.

Joyce DiDonato began her professional career in 1998 with performances at several regional opera houses in the United States, most notably the Houston Opera. And she became known to a wide audience thanks to the appearance in the television world premiere of Marc Adamo’s opera “The Little Woman”.

In the 2000/01 season, DiDonato made her debut at La Scala as Angelina in Rossini’s Cinderella. The following season, she performed at the Netherlands Opera as Sextus (Handel’s Julius Caesar), at the Paris Opera (Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville), and at the Bavarian State Opera (Cherubino in Mazart’s Marriage of Figaro). In the same season, she made her US debut at the Washington State Opera as Dorabella in W. A. ​​Mozart’s All Women Do It.

At this time, Joyce DiDonato has already become a real opera star with world fame, loved by the audience and lauded by the press. Her further career only expanded her touring geography and opened the doors of new opera houses and festivals – Covent Garden (2002), Metropolitan Opera (2005), Bastille Opera (2002), Royal Theater in Madrid, New National Theater in Tokyo, Vienna State Opera and etc.

Joyce DiDonato has collected a rich collection of all kinds of music awards and prizes. As critics say, this is perhaps one of the most successful and smooth careers in the modern opera world.

And even the accident that occurred on the stage of Covent Garden on July 7, 2009 during the performance of “The Barber of Seville”, when Joyce DiDonato slipped on stage and broke her leg, did not interrupt this performance, which she ended on crutches, nor subsequent scheduled performances, which she spent in a wheelchair, much to the delight of the public. This “legendary” event is captured on DVD.

Joyce DiDonato began her 2010/11 season with the Salzburg Festival, making her debut as Adalgisa in Belinni’s Norma with Edita Gruberova in the title role, and with a concert program at the Edinburgh Festival. In autumn she performed in Berlin (Rosina in The Barber of Seville) and in Madrid (Octavian in The Rosenkavalier). The year ended with another award, the first one from the German Recording Academy “Echo Classic (ECHO Klassik)”, which named Joyce DiDonato “The Best Singer of 2010”. The next two awards are from the English classical music magazine Gramophone, which named her “Best Artist of the Year” and chose her CD with Rossini’s arias as the best “Recito of the Year”.

Continuing the season in the US, she performed in Houston, and then with a solo concert at Carnegie Hall. The Metropolitan Opera welcomed her in two roles – page Isolier in Rossini’s “Count Ori” and composer in “Ariadne auf Naxos” by R. Strauss. She completed the season in Europe with tours in Baden-Baden, Paris, London and Valencia.

The singer’s website presents a rich schedule of her future performances, in this list for the first half of 2012 alone there are about forty performances in Europe and America.

Joyce DiDonato is married to Italian conductor Leonardo Vordoni, with whom they live in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Joyce continues to use the last name of her first husband, whom she married right out of college.