1998–2008 DiDonato began her professional career in the 1998/1999 season singing with several regional opera companies in the United States. She most notably appeared as the main heroine, Maslova, in the world premiere of
Tod Machover's
Resurrection with
Houston Grand Opera. She gave a recital in San Francisco that year as part of the Schwabacher recital series. Also at Houston Grand Opera, she performed the role of Meg in the world premiere during the 1999/2000 season of
Mark Adamo's
Little Women with
Stephanie Novacek as Jo and
Chad Shelton as Laurie. That season, she also sang the role of Cherubino in
The Marriage of Figaro with the
Santa Fe Opera and the role of Isabella in ''
L'italiana in Algeri'' with the New Israeli Opera. She gave a recital at New York's
Morgan Library under the auspices of the George London Foundation and featured as a soloist in the
Seattle Symphony production of Handel's
Messiah. DiDonato made her debut at
La Scala as Angelina in Rossini's
La Cenerentola in the 2000/01 season, returned to Houston Grand Opera as Dorabella in
Così fan tutte, and sang the mezzo-soprano solos in Bach
Mass in B minor with the
Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and conductor
John Nelson. In the 2003/2004 season DiDonato made her debut at
San Francisco Opera as Rosina and then reprised the role at Houston Grand Opera. She performed Idamante in Mozart's
Idomeneo with
De Nederlandse Opera and at the
Aix-en-Provence Festival, and also sang the role of Ascanio in a concert performance of Berlioz's
Benvenuto Cellini with the
Orchestre National de France. She made solo recital appearances at the
Lincoln Center in New York, the
Kennedy Center in Washington, Kansas City's
Folly Theater, and
Wigmore Hall in London, among others. She sang at the
Hollywood Bowl in a production of Beethoven's
Symphony No. 9 with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic. Her 2007/08 season appearances included her debut at the
Liceu as Angelina in
La Cenerentola and at the
Lyric Opera of Chicago as Rosina. She sang the title role in Handel's
Alcina with
Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco and the title role in Handel's
Ariodante at the
Grand Théâtre de Genève. She also sang Roméo in Bellini's
I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the
Opéra Bastille and returned to Teatro Real as Idamante in
Idomeneo in July 2008. She gave recitals at
La Scala,
Lincoln Center, and the
Brooklyn Academy of Music, and performed a special concert of Handel arias which was recorded in Brussels.
2009–present In the 2008/2009 season, DiDonato returned to
Royal Opera House as Donna Elvira in
Don Giovanni. In a performance as Rosina at the same house on July 7, she slipped onstage and broke her right
fibula, hopping in the first act and spending the rest on crutches. She then carried out the five remaining performances in a wheelchair. She performed the roles of Beatrice in Berlioz's
Béatrice et Bénédict at
Houston Grand Opera, Idamante in Mozart's
Idomeneo with Opéra National de Paris, and Rosina in her debut at
Vienna State Opera. She also appeared in concerts with the New York Philharmonic,
Kansas City Symphony, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the latter of which under the baton of
James Levine. She toured Europe and the United States with
Les Talens Lyriques, giving concerts of Handel arias, including performances at
Wigmore Hall and the
Rossini Opera Festival. She sang the role of Isolier in Rossini's
Le comte Ory at the Metropolitan Opera in April 2011. In April 2012, she sang the title role in Donizetti's
Maria Stuarda at the
Houston Grand Opera, repeating the role in the work's premiere performances at the Metropolitan Opera in January 2013. In the spring of 2013, she starred in a new production of
La donna del lago at the
Royal Opera House. A new production was mounted by the
Santa Fe Opera during its 2013 festival season, also starring DiDonato with
Lawrence Brownlee as Uberto. For the first time in its 57-year history, the Santa Fe Opera added an extra performance of
La donna del lago due to unprecedented ticket demand. On September 7, 2013 she performed at the
Last Night of the Proms, singing arias by Massenet ("
Je suis gris! je suis ivre!"), Handel ("
Ombra mai fu"), and Rossini ("
Tanti affetti in tal momento!") as well as "
You'll Never Walk Alone" from the musical
Carousel, "
Over the Rainbow" from the
Wizard of Oz as a bow to her home State of Kansas, and "
Danny Boy"; she then led the audience into the traditional "
Rule, Britannia!". On September 21, 2013, she sang the role of Romeo as the
Lyric Opera of Kansas City opened its season with Bellini's
I Capuleti e i Montecchi. In January 2014, DiDonato was named a "Perspectives" artist for the duration of Carnegie Hall's 2014/2015 season. During that time her performance collaborators include
The English Concert conducted by
Harry Bicket, her accompanist David Zobel, the
Brentano String Quartet, and the
Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by
Maurizio Benini. She performed in Rossini's
La Cenerentola, as the title role at the Metropolitan Opera in April and May. In early September 2014, she opened the
Wigmore Hall's 2014/15 season with two concerts and with
Antonio Pappano at the piano. The programme included works by
Haydn,
Rossini, Santoliquido and songs from the
Great American Songbook. A live recording was released in 2015 as
Joyce and Tony: Live at Wigmore Hall, which won Best Classical Vocal Solo Album in the 2016 Grammy Award. In late September 2014, DiDonato opened the
Barbican Centre's 2014/15 classical season with a concert entitled "Stella di Napoli" with the Orchestre et Choeur de l'
Opéra de Lyon conducted by
Riccardo Minasi. This was the first concert of five events for Joyce DiDonato in the
Barbican's Artist Spotlight series. The remaining four events were three concerts: •
Handel's
Alcina with the
English Concert conducted by
Harry Bicket •
Camille Claudel: Into the Fire, a song cycle written for her by
Jake Heggie, with the
Brentano String Quartet • a concert with the
New York Philharmonic conducted by
Alan Gilbert and a masterclass at the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2015, she began giving masterclasses annually at
Carnegie Hall, more specifically, at the Weill Music Institute. This is a three-day program where several aspiring singers (usually college students) study with her personally over three days, to receive important feedback regarding their performance and vocal abilities. In November 2016, she released an album entitled
In War & Peace: Harmony through Music, a project conceived in response to the
November 2015 Paris attacks. She collaborated with
Maxim Emelyanychev and
Il Pomo d'Oro in a series of concert recitals imbued with choreography and theatrical effects. They subsequently toured the program through Europe and the United States. The project, which lasted for three years, also toured to Russia, Asia, and South America; the 4 June 2017 performance at the
Liceu was filmed and later released on DVD. The last performances in November 2019 staged at the
Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., was followed by a conversation with
Donna Leon and Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg. On December 31, 2017, she was featured in a ''New Year's Eve Concert'' at the
Berlin Philharmonic. In 2019, she released her album
Songplay, which mixes jazz, Latin, and tango rhythms into arrangements of Italian Baroque arias, jazz standards, and picks from the Great American Songbook. After a well-acclaimed album release, she then went on to do a national tour, after the album was released between February 18 and March 10, 2019. This album received a 2020 Grammy Award – DiDonato's third. DiDonato acted and sang in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Handel's
Agrippina in 2020, in the title role of Agrippina. She portrayed
Virginia Woolf in the Metropolitan Opera's world stage premiere of
Kevin Puts's opera
The Hours in November 2022. On her debut tour of Australia in 2025 she sang Berlioz's ''
Les Nuits d'été'' with the
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in Hobart and with the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in
Hamer Hall, and she gave a
master class. ==Personal life==