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But DiDonato didn’t act upon her newfound connection right away. After her successful summer, she still returned to the Academy of Vocal Arts for a third year. “Good things had happened for me in Santa Fe and my confidence was in a different place,” she said. “I finally thought that maybe I had a shot [at a career]. The conservatory world had existed for me between those four walls, but now those walls had been smashed down.”

The mezzo-soprano auditioned formally for the Houston Grand Opera Studio a few months later, was accepted, and sang in the program from fall 1996 to spring ’98. During the summer break in 1997, she participated in San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. She did a year of regional work in the United States, found a European manager and started working in Europe.

SUCCESS ABROAD AND AT HOME
“In about 2001, the European thing started happening. That’s where it took off for me – in Europe before the states,” she said.

And it’s been smooth sailing for DiDonato ever since. She has sung Angelina in “La Cenerentola” at La Scala, Cherubino in “Figaro” at the Met, and Rosina in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” at Covent Garden, for which she was recently awarded the coveted Royal Philharmonic Society Best Singer award.

She remains faithful to the companies that have paved the road to her success. In the year 2000, she sang Cherubino in Santa Fe, then returned in 2002 to sing Annio in “La Clemenza di Tito.” In 2007, she will sing “La Cenerentola” at the Houston Grand Opera, and her first Octavian in “Der Rosenkavalier” will follow in San Francisco. When we spoke to her in May, she was singing Sesto in “La Clemenza di Tito” in Geneva before heading back to Santa Fe to sing Cinderella this summer in the company’s production of Massenet’s “Cendrillon.”

This marks Santa Fe Opera’s 50th season and the 50th anniversary of the apprentice program. A gala concert on Aug. 12 hosted by Frederica von Stade will feature the voices of former apprentices who have forged successful operatic careers,

and DiDonato will be among them. In addition to Massenet’s “Cendrillon,” this season’s operas include Bizet’s “Carmen,” Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte,” Strauss’s “Salome” and Thomas Adès’ “The Tempest.”

“It all came together for me in Santa Fe. . . . It was an amazing summer,” DiDonato said. “The apprentice program is a big part of the company’s identity. By highlighting former apprentices at the anniversary gala concert, the company is showing its commitment to the program and its singers.”