Joyce DiDonato Vocal Masterclass

Joyce DiDonato Vocal Masterclass

What to expect

The National Concert Hall is delighted to host an exclusive masterclass with the internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Open to singers and vocal students, this unique opportunity offers participants the chance to work directly with one of the world's most celebrated artists, gaining invaluable insights into vocal technique, interpretation, performance, and artistic development.

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-carat gold” according to The Times, Joyce has towered to the top of the industry as a performer, a producer, and a fierce advocate for the arts. With a repertoire spanning over 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 opening the seasons of both the Minnesota Orchestra and Montréal's Orchestre Métropolitain, alongside subscription performances with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Joyce returned to Winterthur for Rachel Portman's Another Eve song cycle, performed Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with Radio France in Paris and Dijon, and reunited with Craig Terry for a recital at the Théâtre de Genève. She embarked on a major Australasian tour with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmania Symphony Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and made her Lincoln Center stage debut as The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors. She toured North America in Kevin Puts' Emily – No Prisoner Be, made her highly anticipated role debut in Kaija Saariaho's Innocence at the Metropolitan Opera, and performed Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra, followed by Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with Nézet-Séguin and the Berlin Philharmonic. Joyce also continued her annual masterclass series at Carnegie Hall, toured her Grammy Award-winning album Songplay throughout Asia, and joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra on a European tour following a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 4 at Carnegie Hall. A season-long residency with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra featured performances of Emily – No Prisoner Be, a gala concert, educational and outreach initiatives, and concerts with Edward Gardner.
 
Joyce’s distinctively varied 26-27 season includes performances of Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen, and Kansas City Symphony Orchestra. Joyce performs Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in Santo Domingo, and Berlioz's Les Nuits d'été with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Joyce also appears in the Metropolitan Opera's 60th Anniversary Concert in New York and she will reunite with longtime collaborator Craig Terry for recital appearances at Taipei's National Concert Hall and the Staatsoper Berlin.
 
Joyce reunites with Dallas-based vocal ensemble Kings Return for a European tour of their acclaimed holiday collaboration Kings Re-Joyce, with performances in Dublin, Hamburg and Coesfeld. She embarks on a second North American tour of Kevin Puts' Emily – No Prisoner Be, with performances in La Jolla, Houston and Atlanta before joining Il Pomo d'Oro for a North American tour of Dido & Aeneas, including appearances in New York and Berkeley.
 
Following the completion of her ground-breaking three-year global project EDEN, which toured across Asia, South America, the United States and Europe, reaching over 15 million people in 50 cities and engaging more than 3,500 children through its educational initiatives, Joyce launched her latest major artistic project: Kevin Puts’ Emily – No Prisoner Be. Commissioned for Joyce and the Grammy Award-winning string trio Time for Three, and inspired by the poetry of Emily Dickinson, the song cycle received its world premiere at the Bregenzer Festspiele in August 2025 before touring across North America, including performances in Kansas City, Chicago, Berkeley, Wisconsin, Santa Barbara, Princeton and Carnegie Hall. Released as a major new recording, Emily – No Prisoner Be continues Joyce’s commitment to bringing ambitious new works to audiences around the world.
 
On the operatic stage, Joyce’s recent roles include Virginia Woolf (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, Joyce 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.
 
Joyce’s expansive discography includes the highly celebrated Les Troyens (winning Gramophone’s coveted Recording of the Year) and Handel’s Agrippina (Gramophone’s Opera Recording of the Year). Joyce’s other albums include her singular EDEN spanning four Centuries of music, the acclaimed Winterreise with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Grammy Award winning Songplay, In War & Peace, the 2017 Best Recital Gramophone Award, Stella di Napoli, Grammy-Award-winning Diva Divo and Drama Queens. Other honours include the Gramophone Artist and Recital of the Year awards, as well as an inaugural inductee into the Gramophone Hall of Fame. In September 2024, Joyce was honoured to receive the 14th Concertgebouw Prize for her exceptional contribution to the artistic profile of the Concertgebouw. Joyce recently received one of France’s highest honours – becoming officière de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Presented by NCH

Event type

Music & Performance

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