Is there any stopping Joyce DiDonato? Every time you turn around, America’s favorite mezzo-soprano has won new awards, fresh accolades and effulgent encomiums. The 43-year-old Prairie Village native and Grammy Award-winner is one of the greatest performing artists ever to come out of Our Town, and she is in the best voice of her life. If you’ve never heard Joyce sing it’s hard to explain fully the suave power of her red-velvet-cake voice, the thrilling command of her remarkable range, and her astonishing acting gifts – in tragedy, comedy and everything in between. She leaves critics sputtering for superlatives. “Simply the best singing I’ve heard in years,” wrote the Financial Times. “DiDonato’s voice is at present nothing less than 24-carat gold,” wrote the The London Times. “Ms. DiDonato seemed the perfect 21st-century diva,” said The New York Times, “an effortless combination of glamour, charisma, intelligence, grace and remarkable talent.” Opera News wrote: “The buoyant progress of DiDonato’s career… has been one of the happiest opera events of the past decade.” But you don’t have to take critics’ word for it, because this Friday (November 16^th) at the Folly Theater Joyce appears in recital as part of the Harriman-Jewell Series’ stellar 48th season – her fifth time on the Series. It’s her second local appearance in KC this calendar year:

In March she performed works by Rossini and Jake Heggie with the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern, which became part of a PBS special Homecoming: The Kansas City Symphony Presents Joyce DiDonato that aired nationwide in July. For her Harriman program – in which she’ll be accompanied by one of the hottest chamber ensembles today, Il Complesso Barocco – she will sing an array of music from recent CDs, including works from her newly release Drama Queens, in which she sings arias from operas from the 17^th and 18^th centuries depicting royal figures of one sort or another. (The Harriman says the performance, led by Dmitry Sinkovsky, is sold out, but call 816-415-5025 to get on the waiting list.) Her previous release, the ingeniousDiva/Divo, won the Best Classical Vocal Solo Album Grammy. “Diva/Divo?” What?  Mezzo-sopranos, you see, are often called upon at times to sing male roles, especially in opera of the Baroque era. It was Joyce’s portrayal of the boy Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, in fact, that clinched her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, where she has returned several times to great acclaim.

It goes without saying that the young lady who studied at Wichita State University (with the legendary George Gibson) has sung on all the world’s leading stages, from the Metropolitan to Covent Garden, from Paris to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Chicago, Geneva, London, Milan, Munich, San Francisco, Tokyo and Vienna. But in addition she has carved out a formidable career in concerts and recitals, and several of her best CDs involve this repertoire. For Joyce, the new Drama Queens is “my most exciting recording project to date because it is everything I deeply adore about the world of opera: high drama, profound emotion, fearless vocal writing, time-stopping passages, historical significance and real discovery. What more could I ask for?” (Joyce is an inveterate blogger, by the way, and an amazing photographer as well, so you really ought to check out her website at joycedidonato.com).

Joyce’s list of awards is daunting: In addition to the Grammy (in which she was the first classical vocalist to actually perform on the national Grammy broadcast), she’s also won Gramophone’s Hall of Fame (a prize previously granted to Karajan, Callas, Toscanini, Sutherland, Horowitz and others), the most recent Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year, the Richard Tucker Award, the Echo Klassik Award, the Beverly Sills Award, the Royal Philharmonic’s “Singer of the Year,” and many others.

But none of these awards fully reflect the warmth and liveliness of Joyce’s personality, which not only captivates you when you meet her but also emanates from the stage at every performance, whether it be opera, concert or recital. She is someone who loves life, loves people, loves travel – yet she has inherited that Prairie Village sense of groundedness. As a result, she has become one of Kansas City’s best ambassadors for great music and great culture throughout the world – and we all thank her for it.

To reach Paul Horsley, performing arts editor, send email to phorsley@sbcglobal.net.