DiDonato & Juan Diego Florez in Barber of Seville

As many of you have now heard, our celebrated American Diva (or better yet - Yankee Diva) has just released her new DVD of the Barber of Seville with Juan Diego Florez from the 2009 season at the Royal Opera House.  It is now legend, since the diva sang her role from a wheel  chair.  In the opening night production she slipped back stage after her famous aria, "Una voce poco fa" in the first act and broke a bone in her lower leg.  She finished the opera on crutches. 

At the beginning of the DVD, the conductor Antonio Pappano, the conductor comes on stage to announce to the audience that Joyce has agreed to sing the role of Rosina from a wheel chair.  The audience responded with a rousing round of applause as Pappno scurried down to the pit.  As you can imagine, when she sang the aria that night from wheel chair, the audience literally erupted in a thunderous round of applause.  Her cast was entirely visible and she literally lifted hersel out of the chair at moments to express her full emotional impact of singing.  She was all smiles ear to ear. 

The viewer was treated to a superb cast of Juan Diego Florez, the ultimate Rossini tenor of our generation.  They both sing with ease and grace.  DiDonato excells in coloratura adornments with ease and grace and reminds me of Elina Garanca in La Cenerentola at the MET.

One only needs to ponder DiDonato's background stamina, determination and style that has brought her the pinnacle of her career.  A modest girl from a blue collar family in Kansas who worked a long time without getting a break in her to a celebrated mezzo. 

Among her most recent recordings, a tribute CD to Colibran.  It contains some of Rossini's best music.  Her singing her is just fabulous, and one only wishes that the MET would have used her rather than Renee Fleming, who by all accounts gave a very lackluster performance at the MET in Armida.  (Rossini also wrote Armida's role for a mezzo soprano)  The world needs more people like "The Yankee Diva" who gives so much back to their audience in return for their patronage or support.  All we haer about today is about Gheorghiu, Garanca, Netrebko, Villazon bailouts on performances and here is a stunning example of an artist who truly enjoys what she is doing on stage.  I cannot truly imagine, the challenge and constraints of performing from a wheelchair, but this performance will go down in history and I highly recommend it to the readers. 

Although the sets are spartan and minimalist, they allow one to truly concentrate on the singing, scting and dialogue - which is what opera is all about.  The costumes range from period costumes to

Juan Diego Florez, an elegant tenor who is a Rossini specialist in the Bel Canto repetoire is perhaps best known for his expressive legato manner.  His portrayal in La Cenerentolla (Rossini) and La Fille de Regiment by Donizetti is famous for his nine high C's that rival Pavarotti's legendary tenure.  He even had an unheard of encore in La Scala that created quite a stir in the media.  This is truly a DVD that needs to become part of one's library.