Before the turn of the 20th century there was an American soprano, Lilian Norton who became internationally famous, and was called the “Yankee Diva.” She was given a stage name, Lilian Nordica, by an Italian maestro at the beginning of her operatic career, convincing her that European opera-goers would not tolerate a diva with a plain sounding, American name.
Mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato is called the Yankee Diva these days – at least on her youtube and flickr accounts, and she has roots in the American Midwest.
We’ll hear DiDonato’s artistry from her very first recordings to the latest release on Erato on this episode of What’s New!
Multi Grammy Award winner of the 2016 Best Classical Solo Vocal Album (Joyce and Tony: Live at Wigmore Hall) and the 2012 Best Classical Vocal Solo, 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, DiDonato has soared to the top of the industry both as a performer and a fierce advocate for the arts, gaining international prominence in operas by Handel and Mozart, as well as through her wide-ranging, acclaimed discography. She is also widely acclaimed for the bel canto roles of Rossini and Donizetti – the Financial Times judging her recent performances as Elena in La donna del Lago as “simply the best singing I’ve heard in years”.
