Joyce DiDonato Stars in Memorial Day Episode Of SING FOR TODAY

In the video series "Sing For Today," opera star Joyce DiDonato uses song as a lens through which to process, navigate, and respond to current events. In this latest episode, to be released in time for Memorial Day Weekend, she sings the ballad "Danny Boy" and engages in a conversation about grief with Broadway producer Tom Kirdahy, who lost his husband, Terrence McNally, to COVID-19.

"But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying/ If I am dead, as dead I well may be/ Ye'll come and find the place where I am lying/ And kneel and say an Avé there for me," sings Joyce DiDonato, the multiple Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano, in her newest installment of Sing For Today. To be released by Princeton University Concerts and the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan this Memorial Day weekend, the music video features DiDonato singing the popular ballad, "Danny Boy," accompanied by guitarist Bernardo Rambeaud, and engaging in a conversation about grief with American Tony and Olivier Award-winning theatrical producer, lawyer, and activist Tom Kirdahy. The pair reflect on the loss of Kirdahy's husband and DiDonato's collaborator, Terrence McNally, who died of complications from COVID-19-framing the Memorial Day holiday, usually a time for mourning fallen soldiers, more universally within the context of the pandemic. The music video and conversation will be available for free viewing at princetonuniversityconcerts.org and ums.org/singfortoday.

Sing For Today features DiDonato singing and in dialogue with people from a variety of different backgrounds, calling on great songs to permeate events of the present day in a series of music videos and conversations. The first two episodes in the series-including performances of This Land Is Your Land and Silent Night and conversations with Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller and founders of the Poll Hero Project- are also available for free viewing at princetonuniversityconcerts.org and ums.org/singfortoday. DiDonato appears by kind permission of Warner Classics/Erato.