Joyce DiDonato talks early career challenges and meaningful performances at The Met Opera

American mezzo-soprano and three-time Grammy Award winner Joyce DiDonato is "perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation" (The New Yorker), but her path to stardom was anything but easy and linear. In this special episode of Speaking Soundly, recorded live at Lincoln Center, Joyce discusses the challenges in her early career and how she moved through them with grit, how her father gave her permission to pursue a life on the stage, and why her heart still belongs in a choir. David and Joyce reflect on meaningful performances in their lives and the power of music to connect us to moments and heal. Three-time Grammy Award-winning pianist and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin is the Music and Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain, and Music Director (aka David's boss) at The Metropolitan Opera where he's just the third person to hold this position in the company's long 140-year history. In the episode—recorded backstage at Carnegie Hall—Yannick discusses the primary role of a conductor, his calm and friendly demeanor while on the podium (spoiler: he doesn't know how to be mean!), how he became inspired to conduct at age 10, and why he reclaimed his love for the piano during the pandemic. Yannick shares the importance of taking every opportunity to perform seriously and his deep belief that music can connect and transform anyone who listens.    • Met Opera and Philadelphia Orchestra's Yan...   If you loved this interview, don't miss this episode: Wynton Marsalis is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, nine-time Grammy Award winner, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the greatest trumpeter of his generation, but to our host, David Krauss, Wynton always be his teacher, mentor, and family friend. Wynton and David chat about the benefits of music and Wynton’s musical development, and discuss a treasured gift. This episode will make David’s mom especially proud!    • Wynton Marsalis talks a treasured gift, me...   The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper. Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. Photograph of Joyce DiDonato by Sachyn Mital, © Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format. Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media.