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DiDonato has always asked herself what happens to Charlotte after Werther’s suicide; now she pondered another young woman’s fate – her key to Winterreise was from the Mädchen’s viewpoint.

DiDonato shines as Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads his OM in the final concert of its US tour, ending with blockbuster Bruckner. 

A sublime performance of Berlioz' La Mort de Cléopâtre by Joyce DiDonato, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra overshadows the rest of a Rome-inspired concert at Carnegie Hall.

An over-directed, but vivid staging demonstrating political rise and fall in Ancient Rome transported to the present day.

The National Youth Orchestra of the USA present a monumental programme of Strauss and Berlioz.

The biting wit of Vincenzo Grimani's libretto is well served by some knockout arias and excellent performances from a strong cast and the matchless Il pomo d'oro.

After their terrific Troyens in 2017, John Nelson, Michael Spyres, Joyce DiDonato and Nicolas Courjal return to Strasbourg for a fabulous Faust. 

The Met's revival of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 1984 production of La clemenza di Tito is given a new breath of life with superb conducting and an excellent ensemble of singers.

Nézet-Séguin leads Philadelphians and Joyce DiDonato in superb performances of Wagner, Bates, Chausson and Respighi.

An epic night at the opera with Joyce DiDonato, which will be hard to forget.

Antoine Tamestit takes a peripatetic approach to Byron's brooding hero, while Joyce DiDonato dies – twice – as Cleopatra and Dido. 

The Rotterdam Philharmonic marked their centenary with two concerts starring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. A bittersweet weekend, during which they also took leave of their beloved principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Laurent Pelly’s staging provided some of the most memorable moments in this performance of Cendrillon. 

Jake Heggie's spectacular vocal writing combine with Terence McNally's perfectly paced libretto to provide intense music drama which forces you to confront darkness.

Jake Heggie's story of redemption captivated the Teatro Real audience thanks to a solid cast and an effective production

Lengthy but full of melodic invention, Semiramide finally made her triumphant return to the Royal Opera in David Alden's fine new production.

Sondra Radvanovsky scores a rousing success in the taxing title role of Bellini's masterpiece in New York.

Nothing is better than when Berlioz ramps up the decibels. With a huge orchestra and choir and a deluxe starry cast assembled in Strasbourg, this was a special performance. 

The Rossini masterpiece is brought to life by an inspired conductor and four first-class singers in a new, modern production by David Alden.

Bringing her programme of Baroque arias to London, Joyce DiDonato was on a mission to discover how we find peace.

Joyce DiDonato made her Chicago Symphony debut in a rarely heard song cycle of Giuseppe Martucci, while more familiar territory was to be found in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.

To open the new season, the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot were joined by star mezzo Joyce DiDonato, whose performance sent listeners over the top and over the rainbow.

Vittorio Grigolo and Joyce DiDonato live up to their starry reputations in the Royal Opera's latest revival of Massenet's tale of unrequited love and suicide.

Joyce DiDonato enchants the public of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with a program of art songs and arias inspired by Venice.

Despite starry bel canto experts such as Joyce DiDonato, Lawrence Brownlee and maestro Michele Mariotti, a 2013 Paul Curran staging of Rossini’s La donna del lago reads vacuous on The Metropolitan Opera stage.

A new bel canto opera, a pro football team, and the future of American Opera--all in a day's work for Heggie, McNally, DiDonato, and von Stade.

A dynamic cast recently gave the Zurich audience the “stuffs” of Vincenzo Bellini’s tragic opera: the power of duty, law and honour.

The New York Philharmonic lack the 'wow' factor in Salonen, Ravel and Strauss at the Barbican.

An esoteric Nyx, an alluring Shéhérazade and a rollicking Rosenkavalier: the NYPO impress. 

Joyce DiDonato, Charles Castronovo and Ludovic Tézier rock the Berlin Philharmonie with Berlioz's "légende dramatique".

Joyce DiDonato is joined by Lawrence Brownlee and Laura Claycomb for an entertaining program of bel canto repertoire. 

A menacing rather than a bucolic setting for The Met's new production of La donna del lago, but the proof is in the singing... 

Though Joyce DiDonato is an incredibly versatile artist, her performance at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday evening reaffirmed that she is, above all, one of the leading interpreters of Rossini today. 

A star-studded Alcina delights at the Barbican, though remains less than the sum of its considerable parts. 

Joyce DiDonato, Carmen Giannattasio and Joseph Calleja star in a superb concert performance of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. 

The Met’s playful production of Rossini’s great, loveable and busy La Cenerentola is back and in excellent hands. Joyce DiDonato's Cinderella, singing the role at the Met for the first time is perfect.

Amanda Majeski and Joyce DiDonato are exceptional as Vitellia and Sesto in David McVicar's production of La clemenza di Tito at the Lyric Opera.

It has been five years since mezzo Joyce DiDonato last sang in Amsterdam. In those five years, she won an Emmy Award, headed the cast of countless productions at the Met and Covent Garden, and has been recognized as one of the greatest opera singers of our time by the press and aficionados alike.

It’s time to stop talking about James Levine’s comeback. After a scintillating return to Carnegie Hall in May and a fleet, immaculate Così fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera in September, Levine has proven what he never really had to: his powers have not waned in his absence from the podium. Given sensible scheduling and interesting repertoire, we can focus once again on his music-making.

The Last Night of the Proms provided a welcome tying-up of the various strands that have permeated this year’s season: British light music, the 60th anniversary of the Coronation, a host of premières and new BBC commissions, and the significant anniversaries of a number of composers (including the big-hitters of the season, Wagner and Britten).

It was with great curiosity that I set off for the Barbican on Saturday night. I’ve never been to see an opera in the cinema before – I don’t think I’ve even sat through a pre-recorded film of an opera for many years, as I am a great fan of the “real thing”: opera performed live on stage.

Read our review of David McVicar's production of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda in its 2013 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

When on Sunday afternoon Joyce DiDonato came onstage at Carnegie Hall, the savvy New York audience gave her a truly royal reception by welcoming her with a long ovation. Such a reaction from the audience was hardly surprising.

It was a touching moment when an overwhelmed Joyce DiDonato re-entered the stage after her fourth encore and covered her face with her hands for a few moments, not sure what to do in response to the unceasing applause.

In the last few decades, Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi has flirted with standard repertory status, but it has not sufficiently won the hearts of opera-goers to warrant more than the occasional production. Though blessed with some of the composer’s finest melodies, the opera has problems for modern audiences.

Venexia, Venise, Venedig: city of singing gondoliers, loved-up couples and pigeons. That was the picture painted last night at the sold-out recital by Joyce DiDonato and her accompanist David Zobel at the Wigmore Hall.

Shortly after Rossini's success with The Barber of Seville came La Cenerentola, a reworking of the Cinderella fairy tale, but with a little less magic, and a lot more worldly comedy. It was an instant success and further established the 25-year-old Rossini as one of the greatest Italian opera composers of his day.

Read our review of Phelim McDermott's production of The Enchanted Island by Jeremy Sams in its 2008 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Read our review of Bartlett Sher's production of Rossini's Le Comte Ory in its 2011 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

I once heard a lecture by Gérard Mortier, then head of the Paris Opera, contrasting the twin operatic traditions starting from Monteverdi's serious and affecting dramma per musica and the lavish court entertainments of Lully. A couple of centuries on, there's no need to ask the side of the fence on which Massenet's Cendrillon falls.