Winner of the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo, Kansas-born DiDonato has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation” by the New Yorker. DiDonato has soared to the top of the industry both as a performer and a fierce arts advocate, gaining international prominence in operas by Rossini, Handel and Mozart, as well as through her wideranging, acclaimed discography. Much in demand on the concert and recital circuit, DiDonato holds residencies this season at both Carnegie Hall, New York and the Barbican Centre, London. Recently she completed an acclaimed recital tour of South America, and has appeared in concert and recital in Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Toulouse, Mexico City and Aspen, in addition to appearing as guest singer at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London. In opera she appeared last season as Cendrillon at the Liceu Barcelona, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Angelina in La Cenerentola at the Metropolitan Opera, the title role of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at the Royal Opera House. Highlights this season include Romeo I Capuleti e i Montecchi in her native Kansas City, Elena La donna del lago at the Metropolitan Opera, Maria Stuarda in Barcelona, the title role of Alcina with the English Concert, and Marguerite La damnation de Faust with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle. An exclusive recording artist with Erato/ Warner Classics, DiDonato’s most recent recording, Stella di Napoli, is a sumptuous bel canto banquet including little-known gems alongside music by Bellini, Rossini and Joyce DiDonato Mezzo-Soprano Donizetti. Her Grammy-Award-winning recording Diva Divo comprises arias by male and female characters, celebrating the rich dramatic world of the mezzosoprano. The following recording Drama Queens was exceptionally well received, both on disc and on several international tours. A retrospective of her first ten years of recordings entitled ReJoyce! was released last year. Other honours include the Gramophone Artist of the Year and Recital of the Year awards, two German Echo Klassik Awards as Female Singer of the Year, and an induction into the Gramophone Hall of Fame.