Joyce DiDonato in conversation with Noah Bendix-Balgley (18 min.)

In June 2017, in her second concert programme with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the popular American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato who is internationally acclaimed for her interpretations of Baroque music, bel canto and Richard Strauss, sang Hector Berlioz’ lyrical scene La Mort de Cléopâtre. For her debut with the orchestra, the artist also performed a work by the French composer: his Damnation de Faust. With her fellow American Noah Bendix-Balgley, DiDonato talks about Berlioz’ impressively experimental early work and her great interest in the text of a vocal work, plus how deeply moved she was by an arts project she was involved with, in which she worked with inmates of a prison.