Jake Heggie’s close to the bone new opera ticks all the right bel canto boxes.

Mezzo-soprano superstar Joyce DiDonato’s latest album of Baroque opera arias started life as a project to bring to light some Neapolitan rarities, but it took a swift hairpin turn in November last year following the brutal terror attacks in Paris. The Kansas diva and the crack Il Pomo d’Oro under their exciting young Russian Chief Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev ditched the programme and came up with a selection of “war and peace” arias, all of them sending a strong message in troubled times. “As I have tried to convey in this selection of music, the power to bravely tip the scales towards peace lies firmly within every single one of us,” DiDonato says. Drawing mainly on much-loved arias from Handel and Purcell, the mezzo is in sizzling form, attacking the bellicose material with gusto. She looks like a lioness in profile on the cover and that is the feeling she brings here – you’d be a fool to mess with her! In stark contrast the “peace” songs, including back-to-back “swoon” tracks of Dido’s Lament by Purcell and Handel’s Lascia ch’io pianga from Rinaldo, are delivered with a glorious mixture of grace and irresistible sweetness. She does include some… Continue reading Get unlimited…

The socially savvy mezzo supports many causes, but after the Paris attacks she’s decided to go on the record.

Check out this exclusive preview of the opera star’s In War and Peace: Harmony Through Music. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The acclaimed American mezzo-soprano will play Florence Foster Jenkins, the infamously bad singer, in a new film. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Boris Godunov and Frankenstein stand out among Covent Garden’s showings for 2015 and 2016. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Proceeds from the sale of a new album will be donated to help fund research into a cure. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

We reveal who took the coveted title of this year’s finest classical recording.

November's cover story: Opera megastar Joyce DiDonato.

Joyce DiDonato, the pre-eminent singer who's revolutionising the way we think of the Diva. Available to buy in stores now.

Leonidas Kavakos and Daniil Trifonov complete the bill as New York’s iconic venue broadcasts live in November. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The singer shares her audition dos and don’ts for people wanting places at her masterclasses. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in