The Standard

“…DiDonato’s voice can still conjure so many colours and shades as she
achieves in songs like Irrlicht (Will o’ the Wisp) and Rast (Rest) or such
emotional vulnerability as in Der Greise Kopf (The Hoary Head). Her shock at
the poet’s self-dramatisation in a song like Der Wegweiser (The Signpost) felt
truly raw.”

The Guardian

“Her lyric mezzo-soprano, now in its prime, offers an opulent palette of sounds: a lambent, gleaming top, ominously dark lower notes, everywhere beauty of tone, amplified by Wigmore Hall’s fine ambience. The contrasting verses of “Frühlingstraum” went from radiant hope to trenchant, dark, chest notes, as reality bites. The cries of weeping at the end of “Letzte Hoffnung” reached up into higher strata of luminosity.”

Financial Times

Het Parool

[…]

There were ample moments of unbridled vocal firepower from DiDonato. She tore off a multi-octave “Gloria!” during a medley of hymns that was breathtaking, but she also found considerable potency in restraint, as her nuanced, emotional renditions of “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire/Christmas Waltz” medley, accompanied by Faison on acoustic guitar, illustrated.”

Dallas Observer

“Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and the African-American vocal quartet Kings Return have each performed for the La Jolla Music Society in recent seasons, but not on the same program. For Saturday’s nonpareil Christmas concert at The Conrad, these two musical forces of nature combined for an exhilarating evening of musical virtuosity and spiritual elation.”

San Diego Story

Her singing is distinguished by gorgeously rich, full tone, effortless technique and impeccable clarity of diction whether in English, German or Italian. Above all, what makes her exceptional is her expressiveness – of voice, face and body – and how natural she makes classical singing seem, a rare feat.”

South China Morning Post

Classical Voice North America

“Singing with heart-touching poignancy, Dido/DiDonato held the entire audience, her court, transfixed, an effect intensified by the dimming of the Hall lighting in the chorus’s final commentary – sung with beautiful nuance and oneness by the newly formed Il Pomo d’Oro Chorus – leaving Dido spot-lit centre-stage, alone.”

Opera Today

DiDonato’s rich voice and expressive commitment were integral to this; the beauty of her vocal sound was captivating and the singer’s conviction was often convincing.”

New York Classical Review

San Francisco Classical Voice

““EDEN” is an experience of creation, education and music, culminating into a performance that transcends both time and place.

The Daily Californian

“The audience was spellbound.”

Québec Chronicle Telegraph

Forum Opéra

New York Times

“Joyce DiDonato made her only appearance with the Met Orchestra this season: The crowd showed rapt silence for (and then vociferous approval of) her intense, searching performance. Like Goerke and Jovanovich, DiDonato fully understands the art of concert opera. With keen declamation and eloquent gestures, she enacted both Didon’s proud greeting of and tribute to her people, before her fateful meeting with Énée; and then her rage, thirst for revenge, and eventual resignation after the destiny-compelled hero deserts her… With glowing demi-teints, she aced what seems to me emotionally the key transitional line of the later scene… DiDonato’s soft singing retains its immaculate tonal finish.”

Classical Voice America

“DiDonato again proved her exceptional ability to connect with an audience. Regal or passionate, wounded or vengeful, she only needed a few stanzas to fully bring to life Didon’s complex character. Every sound was imbued with a special vibrancy”

Bachtrack

Ôlyrix

“Joyce Didonato n’apparaît ainsi que fugacement, dans une superbe robe moulante en lamé or, pour une très courte prestation néanmoins lumineuse, ample et magnifique qui récompense largement tous ceux qui auraient pu ne se déplacer que sur la promesse de son intense présence sur la superbe affiche du spectacle proposée par les équipes du Philharmonique de Strasbourg. La diva américaine met tout son art au service de cette brève narration des transports et atermoiements des deux amants, avec beaucoup de brio et de sensualité, « radieusement pure comme le regard d’un ange », ainsi que disait Berlioz de la tragédie du dramaturge élisabéthain.”

Forum Opéra