How I Met Joyce DiDonato

Well, my friends, last Sunday, October 25th I met Joyce DiDonato!
All right, all right, you, the impatient ones – go ahead, scroll up the post, see the picture of Joyce and me and come back to read my report.
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All right, let’s start.
New York. October 25th, 2009. Sunny, 65 F.
Could it be any better?
It was a fresh, sunny crispy morning. Having not had any desire to bring my thick-n-heavy Rossini book with me and carry it all around Manhattan all day long, I indulged myself in a glossy fashion magazine, which I enjoyed all the way to New York and kindly left on the train upon arrival, apparently supplying the next rider with a free glam read.
It was noon when I arrived and I decided to start my day with an old-fashioned Austrian lunch at Café Sabarsky on 5th Avenue. The place was recommended to me by one my readers at the contest, besides, I heard from a source that it is the place for all the music crowd, especially music critics.

Café Sabarsky is one of the 2 museum cafés at Neue Galerie. The other one is Fledermaus, which according to their website, is closed on Sundays.
So I walked in and there were 2 middle-aged gentlemen in the line before me, waiting to be seated. Then the hostess came out and said that if we were not willing to wait, we could go downstairs to Café Fledermaus (which was obviously open???) where they could accommodate us right away. The gentlemen resisted the invitation, but I thought it would be a good way to save time, which I did not have a whole lot of, besides Fledermaus sounded like an operetta lunch, so I went.
The café happened to be in the basement of the building. The décor was nice and simple, nothing really fancy or expensive. The menu is the same in both cafes. I won’t dwell on the details of my lunch, but I’ll just say that I did not like it at all. It is very subjective of course, because it’s just me not being that much into meat. Everything was so meaty: the soup, the entree…. I confess I almost did not eat anything off my plate. The desert was excellent though and the best proof of it is the picture on the right, which I only remembered to take being half way through the cake!!!
This is the Blackforest Cake (Scwarzwalder Kirschtorte), the traditional Austrian /German treat. Terrible in most places. Divine at Fledermaus. Lots of chocolate and cherries, my friends!



After lunch, I dove into the big city noise and felt alive.

You can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl! Never even try to!

I strolled down 5th Avenue, took the long-dreamed-of carriage ride and enjoyed the most pleasant and sunny fall day one could ever wish for.
I took some pictures on the ride and at the trademarks well-known to all of you. I could not help but stop by at the Met, which was closed and dark because it was Sunday

and my favorite Met Store, newly opened and gorgeous!!!which looks like this now and which will be hosting Joyce DiDonato's Colbran CD
signing on November 3rd.

Of course, I could not resist the temtation of buying some cool opera souvenirs for my co-workers, family, the contest winner, Troy and myself.

Met mints, tiny opera flip books, Siegfried and Walkure pocket mirrors. You get the idea.

After that it was time for me to go to the Morgan and enjoy the Recital of Joyce DiDonato and Eric Owens.

I arrived early and had just enough time to enjoy the little Celebrating Puccini exhibit that they are having now. It has some original Puccini's letters and notes, playbills of his premieres and fancy programs. I had an awesome dessert for dinner (my pre-opera NYC tradition), this Three Milk Cake with fresh berries.

Yes, Readers, being a wise eater every day, I like to spoil myself on trips!

Then I headed to Lehrman Hall to find my seat. I swear I had the best seat in the word - 5th row. Center.

Here is the view of the stage from my seat. Don't y'all love it?

I was really surprised to see that many people in the audience were dressed really badly. I actually never saw people in Manhattan dressed like that before. Almost nobody was dressed up. Most of the audience looked like they have just come back from the farmer's market. Sneakers, stretched turtle necks, blue jeans were very popular that night. Some ladies were wearing berets that they chose not to remove even for the recital. I don't really care that much about clothes, but I was relieved that I had not worn a fancy evening gown. That would be way over the top.

This was probably the best opera event I’ve ever been to.

I think Joyce gives the maximum of what she can give every single time she performs, and not many opera singers can boast the same kind of generosity.

She has a great stage presence – she literally lightens up the whole room as he walks in. She is a wonderful actress, but her voice… is a true timeless gem. She’s been called “the golden voice”, and that’s exactly what she is, the golden voice. Her voice fills up the whole room with its luminous beauty and power. Ah, I wish I knew how to describe it better. All the words are so overused and banal, that writing them takes away from it.

Somehow, what you hear on CDs is only 70 % of what she sounds like live. Therefore, my friends, you have to go and see/hear Joyce live, if you have not done so yet.

We all heard and read that singing opera equals years of studies, hard work and tireless practice, and looking at many opera singers you can easily see all that sweat! ( which is fine with me, as long as they sing well).

However, when Joyce sings, you only get to see the artistic side: Inspiration, Talent and Passion for Music. And the Sweat side...she always manages to hide it far behind the scenes. Her singing of any music is like Rossini: artful and effortless.
Everything Joyce sang was incredible. I was very impressed with the Spanish canciones. She put so much Flamenco flame into them. Of course, Rossini’s pieces were absolutely incredible and I am so proud of having the opportunity to hear Joyce sing Rossini live.
The recital was immediately followed by the reception. People from the audience gathered in the hall where red and white wine was served. Many people got themselves busy standing in the wine line. I was thinking about coming up to Joyce to introduce myself, chat a little and maybe ask to take a picture together, but I was not sure how it would all work out and how hard it would be to get through to her. Besides, I had no idea where the artists would be coming from, so I was hanging around in the middle of the room together with many others.

Finally, Joyce and Eric came out, and the crowd greeted them with a round of applause. Several people ran to greet Joyce, but besides them, the crowd was pretty shy. Many just came up closer and stood there staring. So after those few people left I came up, said Hi and thanked Joyce for the beautiful recital. Then I introduced myself. I said my name and mentioned that I was a regular reader of her blog and a big fan. Joyce seemed to remember my name.
I also thanked her on behalf of my son who, like I said, was her youngest fan.
And then she remembered my comment that I left on her blog 3 months ago [I'll post it in the P.S. section for you to have an idea what I am talking about] and said:
Oh, did you write that? Oh, I was so touched when I read that. I actually sent that comment to my manager.
I said that my son really likes her voice and Crude furie makes him all excited and happy and hoppy.
And she said:
Oh, I am so touched. I hope to meet him one day.

I said that I was planning to bring him to the opera in a couple of years.
And then I asked if I may take a picture with her and she said “Sure”.
Somebody took the picture, and of course I closed my eyes and did not have the courage to ask for a re-take.
I wished Joyce good luck with the rest of the run of the Barbiere and bid my good-byes.

I was very impressed with how well she pronounced my name, because, believe me, easy as it is, people pronounce it in many funny ways, but she said it so right and easy!

I confess that first I was just a hint nervous, but not to the extent that it would affect my speech capacity (I mean we do not talk to opera stars every day, right? At least I don't). But Joyce was so nice and sweet, that I felt comfortable very soon. Her sweet disposition and sincerity made the whole experience of meeting her so special and exciting.

It's truly amazing how she lacks that diva-ism, which we see so much of. ( Hold on one sec, didn't I just create a new word?)

She does not place herself up high on a golden pedestal to look divine and unaccessible. On the contrary, she reaches out and she is a human being, only an extrememly talented one. That's what is unaccessible - her voice and her talent, because no one else, no one, my friends, can sing like that!

Now, thinking about her Barcelona Cenerentola (which I am going to have in my DVD collection very soon), I can see that there is actually very little acting involved - it's just her: a kind, beautiful and generous lady who (like they wrote in the latest Opera News issue) makes it about the people around her.

Eric Owens has a very beautiful and a very powerful voice.

His Ella giammai m'amo shook the walls. Literally. Almost.

I think it would be nice if Mr. Abdrazakov were in the audience to hear it. He would really benefit from the experience. We all know what a meaningful aria it is. This is the aria that overpowers, overwhelms, brings tears into your eyes and goosebumps onto your skin. He nailed it. It was wonderful.

I was really impressed with the pianist, Carrie-Ann Matheson. She was so expressive, so artistic! A real maestra! She reminded me of Leonard Slatkin in the way she treated music. Very often we don’t even pay attention to pianists – they are just the setting for the gems (the artists). However, Ms. Matheson was very noticeable. She did not steal the show, (not that she even attempted to), but she was so much fun to watch, and watching her play only added spice to the program. No wonder she is very famous and plays at the Met on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, I could not stay at the reception for a long time. Like Cinderella, I had to run to catch my train. I did not have a chance to get a glass of wine, because the line was just endless... Don't people love free stuff?

Besides, I still had that adrenaline rush from meeting Joyce, so I did not really want any wine at the point. However, having arrived at Penn Station, I did get myself a sandwich and a mini bottle of rose Zinfandel to celebrate my New York outing on the train. I also bought 2 little souvenirs for Troy: a snowy-glass New York ball ( he loves to watch "the snow" falling down) and a little funky NYC mug to eat his soup from.

P.S. Here is the comment that Joyce sent to her manager:

Dear Joyce:

My son is probably your youngest fan - he is only 6 months old.He loves your Furore CD, especially Crude Furie. He gets all happy and excited every time he hears it.From us both - all the best with Furore concerts and THANK YOU!