Jephte/Dido and Aeneas review – magnificent DiDonato brings understated passion to Purcell
Joyce DiDonato probed Dido’s desire and anguish with characteristic subtlety, while the Pomo d’Oro Choir were superb in Carissimi’s Jephte
December 2022
The Woolf pack: Renée Fleming and Joyce DiDonato on turning The Hours into opera
The Pulitzer-prize-winning, Mrs Dalloway-influenced novel about three generations of women, has finally hit the stage. Its stars tell us how they pulled it off
February 2022
Home listening
Classical home listening: Joyce DiDonato’s Eden; Coco Tomita’s Origins
Spanning Ives and Mahler to Rachel Portman, the mezzo-activist hits nature’s reset button; the BBC young violinist’s debut is a winner; plus, a great Opera on 3
The week in classical: Theodora; OAE: Bach, the Universe and Everything – review
It comes with a health warning, but Katie Mitchell’s perceptive, largely cogent staging of this rarely seen work allows Handel’s genius to shine through
Theodora review – bombs, a brothel and a brilliant cast
Katie Mitchell’s modern-day staging of Handel’s oratorio is probing but problematic. The cast, however, is one of the finest ever assembled for the work
October 2021
Joyce DiDonato/Craig Terry review – thoughtful programme of panache and fierce beauty
From Cleopatra’s sorrow to Duke Ellington’s solitude, music helps us heal
Joyce DiDonato
May 2021
The month's best album reviews
Marianne Faithfull, AJ Tracey and more: May’s best album reviews
Read all the Guardian and Observer’s four- and five-star album reviews from the last month, spanning pop, classical and more
April 2021
The month's best album reviews
Dry Cleaning, Taylor Swift and more: April’s best album reviews
Schubert: Winterreise review – high drama from Joyce DiDonato
April 2020
Lockdown culture
The Metropolitan Opera’s At-Home Gala review – thrilling singing, live from the stars’ living-rooms
This technically remarkable event offered performances from more than 40 of the Met’s regular singers – as well as an irresistible peek into their homes
September 2019
The week in classical: Agrippina; The Intelligence Park; The Greek Passion – review
Joyce DiDonato’s stop-at-nothing empress leads a top ensemble cast in Barrie Kosky’s enthralling Agrippina. Plus dizzying Gerald Barry and a powerful Martinů rarity
Agrippina review – DiDonato formidable as power-hungry empress
Joyce DiDonato gives one of her finest performances in Barrie Kosky’s witty and unnerving staging of Handel’s opera of political manipulation in ancient Rome
Joyce DiDonato: ‘I’m trying to balance activism and joy’
The celebrated mezzo-soprano on trading her first vocation for ‘the dark side’, the genius of Handel – and channelling House of Cards in her latest, ruthless role
February 2018
The week in classical: Dead Man Walking; Das Rheingold – review
Joyce DiDonato is superb as Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s 2000 opera, soon to have its UK premiere
