Joyce DiDonato: The Diva From Kansas
It’s a depressing week in the classical-music world: New York City Opera is shutting down; conductor Osmo Vanska is leaving the Minnesota Orchestra after a protracted labor dispute. So those looking for the rainbow should look no further than Joyce DiDonato, who is my favorite of the current generation of opera singers in their prime. Thus I read Alex Ross’s profile of her in this week’s New Yorker with interest. The piece is thoroughly engaging, but did Ross have to open the story with a scene of DiDonato at an Applebee’s in Wichita? Yes, she’s a down-home gal from Kansas, but there’s a whiff of condescension about this approach.
