Mezzo Joyce DiDonato wins Echo Klassik Award
Just days after her double win for “Artist of the Year” and “Recital of the Year” at this year’s Gramophone Awards, Joyce DiDonato traveled to Germany to collect her 2010 Echo Klassik “Singer of the Year” Award during a nationally televised event.
The Echo Klassik Awards – the German equivalent of America’s Grammy Awards – are presented by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie, the cultural institute of the German Music Industry Association (BVMI). According to BVMI CEO Dieter Gorny, “Since 1992, the award ceremony of the German music Echo Awards has been one of the highlights of the music year. It is the acknowledgement of great creative work. Being nominated means already being in a group of the world’s top artists. From rather modest beginnings, the German music Echo Award has developed over the years into an honor recognized around the world.” The 17th annual Echo Klassik Awards were held on October 17 at the home of the Essen Philharmonic in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
These award wins come after a wildly successful season for Joyce DiDonato that included a critically acclaimed company debut with the Los Angeles Opera in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, after which the Los Angeles Times exclaimed that she “stole a show that was hard to steal,” and her role debut as Elena in La donna del lago with the Paris Opera, which the Financial Times hailed as “simply the best singing…heard in years.”
DiDonato’s triumphant march through Europe’s most respected awards ceremonies comes after the release of her album of Rossini arias – Colbran, the Muse – which was an instant bestseller for Virgin Classics. The Gramophone Award for “Recital of the Year” was by no means the disc’s first honor; Opera magazine, marveling that “it’s difficult to imagine a more satisfying Rossini recital,” voted Colbran “Disc of the Month,” while Opera Now, selecting it as the “Editor’s Choice,” judged that “musically and dramatically, the disc [was] perfection.” Time Out New York agreed, advising: “Even if your shelves groan with great Rossini aria discs, you need this one – today’s gold standard.”
After collecting her German Echo Klassik Award, DiDonato takes her signature interpretation of Rossini’s Rosina to Berlin’s Deutsche Oper, where she makes her house debut.
# # #
© 21C Media Group, October 2010