'A force of nature': Joyce DiDonato
10 June 2025.
When ABC Classic presenter Mairi Nicolson is not exaggerating when she describes Joyce DiDonato as ‘the very model of a 21st-century opera singer'.
‘She’s the whole package vocally and dramatically,’ Nicolson said on ABC Classic’s Legends program. ‘I’ve seen her live several times in Europe … and she totally lives up to all the hype. She’s a force of nature.’
Now, for the first time, audiences in Australia and New Zealand will have the chance to hear that force of nature in person. DiDonato makes her debut with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in Hobart in November, followed by performances in Melbourne and Auckland.
Born in Kansas and a self-described ‘Yankee diva’, DiDonato’s rise to global fame didn’t happen overnight. As Nicolson writes in her wide-ranging article, the singer's early years were marked by rejection – 13 auditions before landing her first role, and a decade of hard work before real success arrived in her mid-30s.
Determination (and a sense of humour)
DiDonato's determination and light-hearted spirit came to the fore in 2009 when she fell on stage during her Covent Garden debut as Rosina in The Barber of Seville and broke her leg.
She continued the remainder of the show’s season in a wheelchair, her leg in a pink cast!
'What is essential to me is to live the role'
DiDonato is renowned for the emotional depth and fierce intelligence she brings to the characters she embodies, from Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro to Berlioz’s Queen Didon.
‘What is essential to me is to live the role not merely to play it,’ she has said of these roles.
It’s not just her extraordinary voice and theatrical instincts that have made DiDonato one of the most admired artists of her generation – it’s also her activism and passionate belief in the empowering role of music and education.
‘The key to getting new audiences isn’t changing what we do,’ she has said. ‘It’s making sure we go to where the people are.’
Throughout her career, DiDonato has used her incredibly artistry and influence to champion education, community outreach, and social justice through music.
As Nicolson puts it: ‘She’s glamorous, she’s funny, she’s warm – and she has serious star power’.
Joyce DiDonato with the TSO on 15 November.
Don't miss this chance to see the multiple Grammy Award winner performing Berlioz’s sublime Les Nuits d’été, with our Chief Conductor Eivind Aadland.
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