Joyce DiDonato on All Things Considered, Sunday, Jan 23

Tune in this Sunday afternoon to NPR’s All Things Considered to hear marvelous mezzo Joyce DiDonato in conversation with Guy Raz.  The ebullient star discusses her new CD – Diva, Divo, to be released next week by Virgin Classics/EMI Classics – and what it means to inhabit the schizophrenic world of the mezzo-soprano, performing in pants one night and pearls the next.
 
DiDonato will release her third Virgin/EMI solo album – Diva, Divo – on January 25.  This playfully-conceived recital sees the American singer take full advantage of the vocal and gender range of the mezzo repertoire, voicing not only the eager young men of her many “trouser” roles but also passionate heroines.  With the dramatic flair and vocal acuity of an operatic natural, she sings an array of roles including Massenet’s Chérubin and Ariane, Mozart’s Susanna, Berlioz’s Marguerite, Bellini’s Romeo, and Strauss’s Composer.  Along with DiDonato’s dizzying characterizations, the album explores the same stories in operatic treatments by different composers, so we hear the Figaro story as conceived by both Mozart and Massenet, Faust by Berlioz and Gounod, and Cinderella by Massenet and Rossini.
 
Winner of last year’s Gramophone “Artist of the Year” Award, DiDonato received worldwide praise for her embodiment of Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (especially after a mid-performance injury added a now-famous pink cast to her costume for the role).  She discusses the highlights of her career in NPR’s most popular afternoon news show.
 
www.joycedidonato.com
 
www.npr.org/programs/atc