Joyce DiDonato Returns To Lead Public Master Class For Young Singers, October 22–24

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato returns to Carnegie Hall's Resnick Education Wing for her popular series of master classes for young professional opera singers from Sunday, October 22 through Tuesday, October 24, 2023.

Soprano Jazmine Saunders, mezzo-soprano Karen Mathilde Heier Hovd, countertenor Agustín Pennino, and tenor Travon D. Walker have been selected to participate in this year's set of master classes. Collaborative pianists Joel Harder and Justina Lee will accompany the singers and provide additional coaching and support during the week.

In addition to being open to the public, the master classes will be streamed live for opera lovers everywhere on Carnegie Hall's website and medici.tv. The videos will remain available on replay for one year following the classes. Additional private sessions are planned for the participants on topics including breath control, audition tips, and career management. Ms. DiDonato offers these fascinating sessions with up-and-coming singers on the heels of her season-opening run of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking at The Metropolitan Opera.  

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, and industry-leading projects, her artistry has defined what it is to be a singer in the 21st century.

Joyce begins her ambitious 2023–24 season by opening The Metropolitan Opera's season performing her signature role of Sister Helen in a new production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, where she will return later in the season to revive her critically acclaimed “Virginia Woolf” in Kevin Puts's The Hours. This season also sees Joyce touring Dido & Aeneas with Il Pomo d'Oro, and further tours of EDEN and the Grammy Award-winning SONGPLAY in Asia, South America, and Europe. In concert, Joyce appears with her hometown Kansas City Symphony Orchestra for a series of subscription concerts, as well as performances in Istanbul, Strasbourg, and Paris. Joyce also performs in recital at Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Wiener Musikverein, and Carnegie Hall.

Recent highlights include giving the world premiere of Tod Machover's Overstory Overture in the role of Patricia Westertord at Alice Tully Hall in New York and Seoul Arts Center in South Korea, and an in-depth residency at Musikkollegium Winterthur. Joyce's groundbreaking EDEN Tour has had further success with recent tours in Europe and North America. In June 2022, Joyce joined the Metropolitan Orchestra for a tour that included the orchestra's first visit to the UK in over 20 years, with performances at the Barbican, Philharmonie de Paris and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Her performance was “the embodiment of musical perfection”, according to the Wochenblatt Reporter.

An exclusive recording artist with Warner Classics/Erato, 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 that has toured to nearly 40 cities globally, 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 honors include the Gramophone Artist and Recital of the Year awards, as well as an inaugural inductee into the Gramophone Hall of Fame.

Artists on the rise are given valuable access to world-class performers and composers through free workshops and master classes for young professional musicians (ages 18–35), created by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute (WMI). Participants are selected after responding to an open call for auditions. These up-and-coming musicians receive personal coaching and mentoring from leading artists, helping them to reach their artistic and professional goals. Previous workshops and master classes presented by WMI have featured Mitsuko Uchida, Black Thought, Marilyn Horne, the Kronos Quartet, Zakir Hussain, Abdullah Ibrahim, Bobby McFerrin, Brad Mehldau, Paquito D'Rivera, and more celebrated artists across multiple genres.

Also this season for up-and-coming singers, SongStudio returns with Renée Fleming at Carnegie Hall in January 2024. Designed to renew and refresh the presentation and experience of the vocal recital, SongStudio brings leading musicians and other performing artists together to mentor emerging vocalists and collaborative pianists, exploring innovative approaches to both classic and current song repertoire, and inviting new audiences to engage with the art form. Special guests including soprano Angel Blue, pianist Graham Johnson, and tenor Nicholas Phan will also lead public master classes.


Program Information
Sunday, October 22 at 4:00 p.m.
Monday, October 23 at 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, October 24 at 4:00 p.m.
Resnick Education Wing
Joyce DiDonato MASTER CLASS

Jazmine Saunders, Soprano
Karen Mathilde Heier Hovd, Mezzo-Soprano
Agustín Pennino, Countertenor
Travon D. Walker, Tenor
Joel Harder, Piano
Justina Lee, Piano
 

Tickets, priced at $25, can be purchased exclusively by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org. Tickets for master classes and other events held in Carnegie Hall's Resnick Education Wing are not available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office.

For more information on discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, dates, and prices are subject to change.

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