New vid: Diva Joyce does promo for the Met
mainHealth warning: too much social media exposure in a week can make you short-sighted.
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Norman, we all love Joyce Di, but it seems there’s a post about her everyday. This crush you have on her is getting a little old. Love your work otherwise.
It’s not Norman’s fault. This woman is becoming a tireless, almost tiresome, self-promoter.
That’s very unfair, SDReader. This is a video taken from Ms. DiDonato’s regular hosting duties at the Met HD broadcasts (which she’s done for years). All hosts do preview interviews during intermissions. These are very popular with audiences who attend and appreciate seeing behind-the-scenes work.
Ms. DiDonato, of course, would have no say whether the Met took this clip from that day and released it. And why wouldn’t they? She’s opera’s “it girl” at the moment. The Met press department would be silly to not try to capitalize. It certainly worked here!
SDReader, This seems to be the first time they did one of the behind the scenes looks – at Maria Stuarda, with host Deborah Voigt. The video is quite popular by classical viewing standards, so it’s absolutely clear why they’d keep going.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrt2olaTq_A
SDreader you speak for yourself of course, and not for thousands of her fans. I am impressed with her commitment to helping aspiring singers through blogs, video blogs, masterclasses and so on. Her accessibility both on social media and personally after concerts has won many over to opera. For that I can only thank her. She is not a self promoter at all in my view but one who recognises the power of social media to reach people, esp the youth, for music and the arts. I salute her. Heavens knows she isn’t sitting around with nothing else to do!
“It’s not Norman’s fault. This woman is becoming a tireless, almost tiresome, self-promoter.”
Perfect remark.
Well, as Christy points out, this was the Met’s broadcast, NOT self-promotion. Nor was she responsible for starting the campaign to get her to sing the National Anthem at the Kansas Royals game, though many thousands of people joined it. I think the world badly needs more voices as articulate, positive and passionate as hers in the promotion of opera. And she happens to be a genuinely great artist too.
No one is forced to read any news on any media whatsoever, let alone react on it.
The way the American mezzo Joyce DiDonato and others will surely encounter criticism, as this newly added on Slippedisc shows. However, I f,.i. am more than glad to realize that a great artist not only wants to share her professional life with the outside world, but also to make me aware that artistry demands a connection with the here and now. This is not so common amongst musicians in general. Egotism is in the mind of the beholder.
Well said Melisande. Of course, like any public figure, she emphasises the parts of her personality that she wants people to see. But in my consistent experience she has exceptionally good manners, an unfailing grace and generosity of spirit, and an intelligence and vulnerability that is the very opposite of egotism, to a degree that is heartwarming in someone so esteemed. A bit less cynicism and bit more of her own positiveness would be welcome from her critics.
Isabel Leonard is VERY good indeed in my opinion. Her Cherubino at Glyndebourne was a good a Cherubino as I’ve seen for many years. But it’s unfair to compare anyone with Joyce’s Rosina – surely as fine a Rosina as there has been in recent memory, if not ever.
There is something grotesque about the Met supposedly being the “busiest opera house in the world” (except for the four months per year when it does no performances at all,) while the only opportunity the vast majority of Americans will have to regularly see opera is only in movie theaters. For opera performances per capita we rank 39th in the world, just ahead of Costa Rica. Why doesn’t Joyce talk about that, the causes, and the solutions?