“The staggering, joyful artistry of Joyce DiDonato reminds us that in any generation there are a few giants. Joyce is not only a great, brave and inspiring artist — one of the finest singers of our time — but she is also a transformative presence in the arts. Those who know her repertoire are in awe of her gifts, and those who know nothing of it are instantly engaged. Joyce sings and the world is suddenly brighter. She compels us to listen actively, to hear things anew.” — Jake Heggie, Gramophone
Multi-Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, 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-karat gold,” according to The Times, DiDonato has risen to the top of the industry as a performer, a producer and a fierce advocate for the arts. With a repertoire spanning more than four centuries, a varied and highly acclaimed discography, as well as industry-leading projects, her artistry has defined what it is to be a singer in the 21st century.
Recent highlights include Handel’s Theodora for the Teatro Real in Madrid and a highly acclaimed European recital tour with performances at Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Athens Megaron and Palau de la Música de Valencia. She continued her celebrated musical partnership with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and made debut appearances with the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In December 2024, she toured the United States with Dallas-based a cappella group Kings Return with a festive program titled “Kings Re-Joyce.” An intensive spring residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund featured the world premiere of Another Eve, a song cycle by Rachel Portman, as well as her concert debut in Handel’s Jephtha, alongside Il Pomo d’Oro.
Her distinctively varied 25/26 season commences with season-opening concerts for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (where she is Artist-in-Residence this season), the Minnesota Orchestra and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, as well as reopening Powell Hall with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ House of Tomorrow. DiDonato returns to Musikkollegium Winterthur for a performance of Rachel Portman’s Another Eve, and collaborates with Radio France for Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder in Paris and Dijon. She reunites with pianist Craig Terry for recitals at Théâtre de Genève and Suntory Hall Tokyo. DiDonato embarks on her first major tour of Australasia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmania Symphony Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
In the United States, she makes her Lincoln Center Theater stage debut as the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors and makes her much-anticipated role debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence. Concert appearances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Nézet-Séguin and the Berlin Philharmoniker. She maintains her annual in-demand masterclass series at Carnegie Hall and tours her album SongPlay throughout Asia. She also joins the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for her second European tour with Yannick and this orchestra, following a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 at Carnegie Hall.
As her latest global touring project, EDEN, completed a groundbreaking three years with tours in Asia, South America, the United States and Europe, reaching more than 15 million people and performances in 50 cities, the anticipation is building for her next album release and touring project. A newly commissioned song cycle written by Kevin Puts for Joyce and the Grammy Award-winning string trio, Time for Three, featuring the poetry of Emily Dickinson had its world premiere at Bregenzer Festspiele in August 2025, with subsequent performances across the United States, including Kansas City, Chicago and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
On the operatic stage, her recent roles include Virginia Woolfe (The Hours), Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), Agrippina, Cendrillon, Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito), Adalgisa (Norma), all for the Metropolitan Opera. Other milestones include Didon (Les Troyens) at the Wiener Staatsoper; Agrippina for the Royal Opera House and in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro under Maxim Emelyanchev; Semiramide at the Bavarian State Opera and Royal Opera House, and Charlotte in Werther at the Royal Opera House.
Much in demand on the concert and recital circuit, DiDonato has held residencies at Carnegie Hall and London’s Barbican Centre, toured extensively in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia and appeared as guest soloist at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms. Other concert highlights include the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Accademia Santa Cecilia Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra USA under Sir Antonio Pappano.
Her expansive discography includes the highly celebrated Les Troyens (winning Gramophone’s coveted Recording of the Year honors) and Handel’s Agrippina (Gramophone’s Opera Recording of the Year). Her other albums include her singular EDEN, spanning four centuries of music, the acclaimed Winterreise with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Grammy Award-winning In War & Peace, winner of the 2017 Best Recital Gramophone Award, Stella di Napoli, Grammy Award-winning Diva Divo and Drama Queens. Other honors include the Gramophone Artist and Recital of the Year awards, as well as being an inaugural inductee into the Gramophone Hall of Fame. In September 2024, she was honored to receive the 14th Concertgebouw Prize for her exceptional contribution to the artistic profile of the Concertgebouw. She recently received one of France’s highest honors, becoming an officière de l’order des Arts et des Lettres.
September 2025
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
